Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A family member of a woman who died in 2022 more than a month after she fell at a nursing home in Miller County has sued the facility for wrongful death and negligence.

A petition filed Tuesday in Miller County by Brenda James — the daughter of Ursula Hill — alleges the Miller County Nursing Home District in Tuscumbia did not have proper staffing levels and employees were not trained properly to deal with a “catastrophic injury.”

The lawsuit claims that Hill slipped on feces that was on the floor of a room that was not properly cleaned on Feb. 25, 2022. Hill was told she had a broken bone in her left leg on March 1, 2022, and was brought to Lake Regional Hospital on March 12, the petition states.

She was diagnosed at the hospital with a fractured left fibular and a swollen ankle, court documents say. She died on April 5, 2022.

The death certificate – which is partially shown in court documents – lists three causes of death, including complication from diabetes, complication from dementia and a significant condition of a left fibula fracture.

A summons was issued for the Miller County Nursing Home District on Tuesday.

ABC 17 News has reached out to the Miller County Nursing Home District on Wednesday afternoon.

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Lucas Geisler

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Department of Justice will begin handling claims of a Columbia businessman misusing a pandemic-era relief plan — an allegation he denies.

Federal attorneys unsealed the case on Oct. 7 against Greg DeLine and three of his companies — GKD Management, Midwest Mortgage Association and Amega Sales. The DOJ is considering whether DeLine violated the False Claims Act through numerous Paycheck Protection Program loans he received in 2020.

The case stems from a complaint made in 2020 by Columbia attorney A.W. Smith to the federal government. Smith filed the suit as a “qui tam” case against DeLine under the False Claims Act. The Federal Bar Association describes such cases as allowing “whistleblowers to take legal action on behalf of the government.” The whistleblower can collect a portion of any money the government collects if successful.

DeLine told ABC 17 News on the phone Wednesday that he expected the case to end in a repayment plan to the federal government. DeLine denied that any fraud took place, but declined to comment further on the case.

Smith said he first suspected the fraud when he and DeLine had business conversations that included the number of people DeLine employed. Smith said DeLine told him many of his more than 400 workers were “1099 employees,” or independent contractors at his trucking or mobile home businesses. Small Business Administration rules prohibited employers from including independent contractor payments in their loans.

Greg DeLine complaintDownload

Records from ProPublica show DeLine had a $5.8 million loan forgiven through the PPP. Amega Sales received a $242,647 loan forgiven, GKD Management had $454,400 forgiven and Midwest Mortgage Associates had $794,200 forgiven, all for payroll expenses.

Smith said each business applied for PPP loans with hundreds of employees, which would have made DeLine one of the largest employers in Boone County. Smith said he felt DeLine was “double-dipping” on PPP loans.

Smith, through his attorney Joe Kronwaitter, declined to comment on the case.

Assistant prosecutor Matthew Sparks said the DOJ would accept the case and planned to file an amended complaint in the next 60 days. ABC 17 News received an automated reply from the U.S. Attorney’s Office saying questions outside “national security, violations of federal law, and essential public safety functions” would be answered after the federal government shutdown.

Qui tam actions have been used before in PPP fraud cases. The prosecutor’s office in New Jersey announced a $13 million settlement with three companies after receiving a qui tam complaint. The DOJ announced a $21 million settlement with three Chinese companies over PPP concerns following a similar complaint.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man was indicted by a federal grand jury on Tuesday for a gun charge.

Damion Hunt, 32, was charged with being a felon with a gun. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond.

Previous reporting indicates he was found with a gun during a traffic stop on Oct. 3.

Hunt was arrested on suspicion of illegal gun possession, according to an Oct. 6 press release.

Hunt was previously convicted of second-degree assault in connection with a 2019 downtown shooting.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia woman was accused of assaulting her mother on Oct. 8 and biting a Columbia police officer.

Nicole Denvit, 31, was charged on Tuesday with first-degree domestic assault, resisting arrest and misdemeanor fourth-degree assault. She is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond.

An arraignment was held on Wednesday. A confined docket hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday and a preliminary 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25.

The probable cause statement says police were called to a Columbia residence at 9:38 a.m. Oct. 8 for a reported assault.

The officer wrote in the statement that they say blood “splattered” on the victim’s clothes, as well as a number of injuries to the victim’s face and body. Police described seeing a blood streak on the floor of the victim’s bedroom, as well as several other areas of the home where the victim claimed they were assaulted and strangled.

The victim described Denvit to police as intoxicated at 6:30 a.m. and was first verbally abusive before following the victim to her room, dragging her by her hair and striking her 30-40 times, the probable cause statement says. The victim had lost consciousness at one point during the assault, according to the statement.

Police met with Denvit at an emergency room waiting area of University Hospital.

“I did not observe any obvious physical injuries on her face or arms. I observed some scratching and bruising on Denvit’s right knuckles. I observed a scratch on Denvit’s left hand. I observed bruising on the top of Denvit’s right foot, the part consistently used to kick someone with. I observed Denvit to be highly intoxicated,” the officer wrote.

The officer told Denvit she was under arrest, and she allegedly began kicking, pushing and biting the officer, the statement says.

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Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A school safety package that Gov. Mike Kehoe signed into law this year requires students to participate in active school shooter drills starting in the 2026-2027 school year.

Before Senate Bill 68 took effect in August, school district staff were only required to participate in active shooter drills.

While the new law does not specify the number of drills that must be conducted each year, it does require student participation.

Under Missouri’s ASIRT statute, teachers and school personnel are required by law to participate in simulated active shooter drills. However, broader training components such as identifying threats or responding to intruders are optional.

A report conducted by ProPublica last year found that most U.S. states require schools to conduct active shooter drills. It identified 13 states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, that do not mandate such drills. While Missouri is among the states that require active shooter drills, the mandate applies only to school staff, not students.

Colorado and Connecticut are known to have had the worst mass school shootings in U.S. history.

The Columbine school shooting in Colorado in 1999 left 13 people dead — 12 students and one teacher.

In Connecticut in 2012, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took place, leaving 20 people killed.

Senate Bill 68 also requires Missouri schools to develop response plans for armed intruders, natural disasters, and medical emergencies. The law mandates the use of anti-intruder locks and bullet-resistant window film in all new school construction by 2029, if state funding is provided.

Public school districts and charter schools must also report all school safety incidents and credible threats to the Missouri Department of Secondary Education. DESE will be required to maintain a database of reported incidents and threats and share data with the Department of Public Safety.

Under Senate Bill 68, a cellphone ban took effect at the start of the 2025-2026 school year that prohibits students from using their phones during school hours. The policy requires schools to restrict device use during instructional time, with limited exceptions for emergencies and educational purposes.

The law required Columbia Public Schools to expand its policy from last year, when high school students were able to use cell phones outside of class periods.

Last year, the district had a cellphone policy in place that banned phone usage for middle school students all day, including in the bathrooms, hallways and lunch.

To implement the law, during school hours, cellphones must be turned off or on silent mode and stored in their backpacks or lockers.

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Wednesday to stop a vote on a new congressional map passed by the Republican supermajority during a summer special session.

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri that lists Secretary of State Denny Hoskins as the plaintiff. The lawsuit was filed against People Not Politicians, a group that has raised more than $1.7 million in contributions since forming.

The group’s leadership said in a news release Wednesday it has collected more than 100,000 signatures on its petition to get a question repealing the new map on a statewide ballot. The group’s initial petition forms were rejected, but Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins gave them the go-ahead Wednesday to start collecting signatures.

In a release, Hoskins said signatures collected before Wednesday could not be used. Hanaway’s lawsuit came just hours later.

Lawsuit against People Not PoliticiansDownload

In the lawsuit, Hanaway asserts that the effort to get the map before voters is unconstitutional because the Missouri and U.S. constitutions give the power to redraw districts explicitly to the legislature.

Hanaway says in a statement the lawsuit “is about protecting Missouri’s constitutional authority from being hijacked by out-of-state dark money groups.” Missouri Republicans have long complained that Missouri’s initiative petition process allows for groups that don’t report their donations to have an outsized impact on the process.

People Not Politicians Director Richard von Glahn said he won’t be throwing out the signatures the group has been collecting since Missouri lawmakers sent the map to the governor in September. von Glahn cited a Missouri law that allows signatures to start being collected once the “sample sheet” is submitted, which he said it was.

“It is, of course, politicians who are grasping at straws and are desperate to make sure that Missourians don’t get the final say on this, but that’s too bad. Missourians are signing this at record rates,” von Glahn said.

People Not Politicians filed a lawsuit against Hoskins, claiming he violated Sunshine laws by not posting the group’s referendum within the deadline set by the law.

He also said any issues with signatures collected before the referendum was approved could be debated at the next court hearing on Nov. 4.

“I don’t expect that that is going to be the final spot of that lawsuit,” von Glahn said. “I expect it would get appealed to the Western District and ultimately to the Missouri Supreme Court.”

von Glahn spoke with ABC 17 News prior to the attorney general announcing the latest lawsuit. The team reached back out von Glahn, and he declined to comment on the issue and said there’s a press conference Thursday morning.

Republican lawmakers passed the new map, which eliminates one of two Democrat-friendly districts in the U.S. House, during a special September session. The map splits up the Kansas City area and the current Fifth District, a seat held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

Several lawsuits have been filed to challenge the new map, claiming maps can only be redrawn every 10 years after the census.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Leadership of Missouri’s Young Republicans organization has issued a statement condemning comments reportedly made by their YR peers in other states.

Politico published an article on Tuesday highlighting offensive language used by some members of the Young Republicans in a private group chat on Discord. The story reports on messages sent by members from New York, Arizona, Vermont and Kansas.

The article quotes a message reportedly sent by William Hendrix, an officer with the Kansas Young Republicans, saying “he’s drawn to the Missouri Young Republicans because ‘Missouri doesn’t like f——ts.'”

“To be absolutely clear: the Missouri Young Republicans’ delegation did not support, vote for, or endorse any of the individuals cited in the article,” the Missouri group says in the statement. “Their actions do not represent the views, principles, or leadership of our state federation or our members.”

The statement goes on to “call for the immediate resignation of every individual who participated in or condoned such behavior.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A former sports information director at a Fulton college has sued the school in federal court.

A lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the Western District Court of Missouri accuses William Woods University of disability discrimination and retaliation.

The petition alleges John Roushkolb was hired as a sports information director for the school on July 17, 2023, and that he was diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

“On or about February 21, 2024, Plaintiff discussed his ADHD and accompanying struggles and requests for accommodation with his superior, Steve Wilson, who said to Plaintiff, ‘I just don’t understand that and I’m not sure that I ever will,’” the petition says.

Roushkolb was placed on an improvement plan, where he “asked for regular meetings with his superiors to discuss meeting work quality and timeliness expectations,” the lawsuit alleges. But, meetings about the plan allegedly stopped in May 2024, the lawsuit alleges.

The petition claims Roushkolb was mocked by coworkers for his disability in August 2024 and was fired a month later. The lawsuit alleges Roushkolb was fired “as a result of his disability and in retaliation for his complaints regarding the discriminatory treatment.”

ABC 17 News has reached out to WWU.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man suffered serious injuries and three children were hurt Wednesday morning in a crash on Highway 54 in Callaway County.

The 35-year-old driver was not wearing a seatbelt when his Jeep Compass ran off the road, went up an embankment and hit a tree at about 6 a.m., according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report. Ambulances took the driver and two passengers with moderate injuries — a 6-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl — to University Hospital.

A third passenger, a 4-year-old girl, was taken to University Hospital by private vehicle for minor injuries, the report says.

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Olivia Hayes

EDITOR’S NOTE: AI contributed to background research for this article.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County launched a new Youth Substance Use Prevention Coalition on Wednesday afternoon at the Columbia/Boone County Health Department.

This meeting marks the start of a collaborative effort to tackle youth substance use and promote community-driven change, organizers say. The coalition aims to address youth substance use by bringing together parents, school leaders, health care providers, law enforcement, businesses, and youth leaders.

The coalition was formed through the county’s Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan. During this process, surveys and focus groups were conducted with residents to identify the community’s biggest health needs. Youth substance use was identified as a top concern based on input from nearly 1,800 Boone County residents, leading to the formation of the coalition to address the issue, according to the assessment.

“So if they experiment with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs before the age of 18, they have a 1 in 4 chance of developing a substance use disorder,” said Heather Harlan, the Boone County Health Department’s Health Program Coordinator. “If they wait until after the age of 21, it’s one and 25. I like those odds a lot better.”

The CHA showed that from 2022 to 2024 the number of students using electronic cigarettes in the 30 days leading up to the survey doubled, from 7.6% to 15.5%. The use of marijuana nearly tripled from 4.6% in 2022 to 11.3% in 2024.

The group is focusing its scope on four main goals:

Bringing Boone County together to prevent youth substance use.

Aligning its work in a proven public health approach.

Understanding the problems and opportunities that exist in the county.

Developing a strategic plan.

“Will we end substance use disorders? No, but we can make the numbers go down and that’s what we’re setting out to do,” Harlan said.

According to the National College Attainment Network, building a coalition to deal with public policy offers advantages, including increased influence through strength in numbers and the ability to draw on diverse skills and knowledge. It also minimizes the workload for individual members.

The coalition will utilize local data and develop strategies to address the root causes of substance use.

The group will meet again on Nov. 12 at 1:30 at the Compass Health Children’s Network Center, anyone is welcome to attend.

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