Category: kmiz-local-news

Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A report of shoplifting at Target led to a car chase, crash and attempted highjacking Thursday on the Missouri River bridge in Jefferson City, police say.

Officers responded to the report of shoplifting at Target a little after 5 p.m., according to a Jefferson City Police Department news release.

Victoria McClain, 32, of Jefferson City, took off in a vehicle and began throwing merchandise out of the car as police chased her, JCPD says. Officers called off the chase because of safety concerns.

The woman then crashed into five vehicles on the bridge and tried to carjack one of the vehicles she had just hit, the release says.

McClain is charged with carjacking, driving while intoxicated, resisting arrest and three misdemeanors: Stealing, not having car insurance and failing to register a vehicle.

She is being held at the Cole County Jail without bond. A hearing has not been scheduled.

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Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo (KMIZ) 

On April 10, 2025, the Columbia Board of Health met to discuss some proposed changes to the city’s ordinance regarding feral cats.

Nearly a year to the day, the board met once again to discuss changes, with some residents saying the problems are only getting worse. 

The Columbia City Council has been considering eliminating the microchipping and annual testing requirements for feral animal caretakers, with feral cats being the primary concern the ordinance is centered around.  

After hearing concerns from residents during a March 2 City Council meeting, the council sent the proposal back to the board of health to revise.  Under the ordinance, residents need a permit from the Columbia/Boone County Department of Health and Human Services to take care of a feral cat colony. The only problem: Nobody is applying for the permit.  

The board on Thursday heard from several residents, including Christina Byrd, who leads the Trap, Neuter, Return program at Columbia Second Chance, a program that works to help the stray cat population. She said one of the main issues is that the permit requires permission from the property owner, something many landlords are not willing to sign off on. 

“Most landlords don’t allow feeders,” Byrd told the board during Thursday’s meeting. “Mine doesn’t care but I was also told that if a landlord signs that permit, they are liable for that colony if the tenant moves out. So they are not going to sign it. That’s why mine won’t sign it.” 

Other residents, like Pamela Pasley, are simply sick of the cats. Pasley told the board that she doesn’t feed any of the feral cats, but has a pair of cats with more than 20 kittens who gather in her backyard near a sewer drain. 

“My problem is quite different from everyone else’s. I would maintain a pet if I had a pet, but I don’t, so these animals are a nuisance to the neighborhood,” Pasley said. 

The board discussed removing the permit requirement from the ordinance, noting that few residents have applied. However, members said most ordinances they reviewed from other cities still require permission from a property owner.

According to the board, the original ordinance was intended to balance competing concerns, recognizing that residents would continue feeding feral cats while allowing the city to establish guidelines.

Many residents have avoided applying for permits, citing concerns about making their information public and the possibility of retaliation from neighbors. Others raised liability issues, noting that caretakers are responsible for the cats’ health and may not be able to afford veterinary care if the animals become sick.

The board ultimately tabled the discussion until next month to gather more research.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Housing Authority is replacing the roofs on all of its units at Bear Creek, it announced in a Wednesday social media post.

Roof replacements are occurring on all 35 duplex buildings and will cost nearly $448,000. There will also be sidewalk and accessibility improvements in front of the community building.

CHA Director Randy Cole says these improvements will enhance safety, accessibility and quality of life for residents.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was accused of filming woman while they were undressed at a Columbia Planet Fitness in 2024 has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

Kenneth Steele, of Columbia, pleaded guilty on Monday to invasion of privacy. He was previously charged with invasion of privacy and third-degree domestic assault. He was sentenced on Monday to two years of unsupervised probation along with a one year suspended sentence.

Previous reporting shows Steele was a trainer at the Planet Fitness on Nifong Boulevard. Steele is accused of placing a camera in a towel holder in order to watch women undress, according to court documents in previous reporting.

Steele became angry and yelled when confronted with the evidence, ultimately hitting his accuser in the chest, grabbing their neck and shoving them into a wooden dresser, a separate probable cause statement says.

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Jessica Hafner

The ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Team has issued a Weather Alert Day from late Tuesday through Wednesday, and again on Friday for severe thunderstorm potential.

SETUP

Temperatures reached the mid-80s on Tuesday, with plenty of instability and moisture for storms to feed off of and sustain into the night.

Part of this equation will be moist air working in ahead of a dry line to our west. Monday night’s storms in Kansas fired along the dry line, and we expect to see something similar Tuesday night. If storms develop along the northern stretch of the dry line, we can expect a sooner arrival of storms that will be a bit stronger. The most likely solution looks more similar to what we had on Monday; storms arriving from the west and weakening with time. There is another, less likely solution that a concentrated moisture pocket could help erode a cap that will otherwise keep us dry across the region until sunset.

This is the first of a two-day setup for us, as another chance for severe storms is forecast for Wednesday.

Another threat of severe weather is developing on Friday. After a break from thunderstorm activity on Thursday, thanks to upper-level ridging, another long-wave trough is set to enter the plains from the northern Rockies.

FUTURETRACK

The best sources of convergence for storm development will be a warm front well north of us and a dry line just west of us. The dry line is where dry and warm air meet, and often creates rising air that could be a trigger for storms on Tuesday evening, much like it was on Monday. This is what will likely trigger storms in Kansas and Oklahoma, but the dry line is less aided by upper-level disturbances this far north.

Storms will weaken below severe limits late in the night. Scattered showers and storms develop on Wednesday morning. This could hamper another round of strong-to-severe storms on Wednesday afternoon and evening. Still, some recovery of the atmosphere appears possible, and we will be monitoring for storms capable of severe hazards.

Friday’s setup is less certain, but an area of surface low pressure is forecast to lift a warm front north of the region, boosting storm energy and moisture once again. Given wind profiles, support for severe weather will exist south of the warm front and east of the cold front. Timing and expectations are being drawn with a broad brush for now, but details will be added to this blog when they become clear.

HAZARDS

The Storm Prediction Center has issued a 2/5 risk for severe storms on Tuesday and Wednesday, indicating isolated to scattered severe storms are possible.

Severe storms will be capable of at least quarter-size hail, 60+ mph winds, and a few tornadoes both Tuesday and Wednesday. These threats are likely to be repeated to some extent on Friday. Make sure you have our ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather App for the latest updates to the forecast. A NOAA weather radio is also useful for receiving geotargeted alerts when cell service is poor or storms move through at night.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Meat processor JBS Foods said Thursday that its bacon plant in Moberly will fully reopen soon after being cited by the USDA this week.

The USDA issued the plant a notice of suspension on Friday, a USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service spokesperson said in an email to ABC 17 News. The FSIS did not disclose what led to the citation. The USDA publishes food inspection information quarterly, but the report for the first quarter of 2026 has not been posted.

The FSIS spokesperson said the citation was not related to any foodborne illness. FSIS said Friday that the notice was issued “after identifying sanitation conditions that did not meet federal regulatory requirements.”

The agency didn’t give details about the sanitation problem.

A JBS spokesperson said a production line had been shut down.

“Out of an abundance of caution, operations at the facility were temporarily paused while we complete engineering improvements,” the spokesperson said.

JBS expects “to resume normal operations at the facility soon.”

FSIS must approve the company’s plans to start the production line again to ensure corrective action has been taken.

JBS told a trade magazine last year that about 400 people work at the plant.

Multinational corporation JBS Foods is the second-biggest pork producer in the United States, according to the company’s website.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Audrain County alleges Missouri Military Academy did not do enough to protect a student from being sexually abused by another student.

The lawsuit accuses the Mexico school of negligence and negligent supervision.

Court documents allege a student complained to the school on Aug. 31, 2025, that his roommate “engaged in improper sexual conduct and solicited sexual favors.” The school allegedly reassigned the problem teenager to another room with a 12-year-old boy.

The 12-year-old was then allegedly assaulted each night from Sept. 1-4, 2025, court documents say.  

“Defendant MMA and its agents and employees knew that their academy fostered an environment of bullying, depravity, and predatory behavior, and did nothing to protect,” the victim, court documents allege. The lawsuit also claims it was known the school did not have enough staffing to protect students from potential harm

A summons was issued for MMA on Thursday, according to court filings.

ABC 17 News reached out to the school’s communications department on Thursday afternoon.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two men were arrested after police found nearly a quarter-pound of fentanyl in a vehicle during a traffic stop near the Highway 63/Interstate 70 connector on Wednesday.

Darryl Ross, 42, and Corion Poe, 25, both of St. Louis, were arrested on Wednesday and are being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. They are both charged with first-degree drug trafficking.

The probable cause statement in Ross’ case says Ross was the driver of a Kia with the incorrect plates. Police pulled over the vehicle at 3:31 p.m. Wednesday. Ross and Poe were asked to get out of the vehicle and baggies with powder were found in the vehicle, the statement says.

The powder totaled 105.64 grams, or 0.23 pounds, of fentanyl. Police wrote in a statement that amount is about 1,050 doses of the drug.

The statement says Poe told police he was sleeping in the passenger seat when they were pulled over and Ross threw a bag of powder on his lap. Poe allegedly told police that he did not know anyone in Columbia and believed Ross was trying to set him up, the statement says.

Poe gave police permission to look at his phone and police could not find any messages about selling drugs or any photos of drugs, the statement says.

Court dates have not been scheduled.

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Euphenie Andre

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Office of Violence Prevention Youth Advisory Council met at City Hall on Thursday for training and technical assistance from the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform.

Last month, the group hosted an introductory meeting with stakeholders from Columbia to evaluate violence reduction efforts, establish shared definitions for community violence intervention and identify strengths and weaknesses.

At last month’s meeting, the group briefly discussed a gun violence program analysis being conducted by the NICJR. The study, which is being conducted in partnership with the Columbia Police Department, is expected to help guide future strategies to reduce violence in the city.

D’Markus Thomas-Brown, Office of Violence Prevention administrator, said Thursday the results from that analysis are expected to be returned by August.

The advisory group will also receive technical assistance from NICJR, including support in communications, crisis management and victim services, along with several other areas. He said combining that support with the data analysis will help shape a five-year plan to reduce violence in Columbia.

“Taking into account the problem analysis that shows our gaps and our problems uniquely to Columbia, not just a national standard of what’s going on,” Thomas-Brown said.

Once the advisory receives the data, it will be able to determine how to promote the program and adequately staff the group.

“When we get the analysis back, it’ll show us the couple of areas where we’re going to need staffing. We’re positioned to be able to go with that recommendation and make sure we hire in the Office of Violence Prevention,” Thomas-Brown said.

The group helps coordinate efforts across agencies and supports and funds community-based organizations to ensure local efforts are included. While the group waits for that data, members said they are already working to prevent violence through direct engagement with youth.

Last month, the Office of Violence Prevention attended a health and wellness fair at Battle High School. Thomas-Brown said events like that help shift the focus from judgment to understanding.

“When we’re talking to young people, we definitely want them to know the trauma-informed understanding of what they go through,” Thomas-Brown said. “Not to stigmatize. Understanding of bad people who make bad choices. No, what happened to you? Not what’s wrong with you,”

He added the advisory used that opportunity to connect them with resources for those who need support.

According to the NICJR plan, the city’s approach includes a long-term timeline: Five-to-10 years for prevention, one-to-three years for intervention and up to 20 years for community transformation. Thomas-Brown said work can be challenging as Columbia continues to grow and change.

“Any kind of headway you had with working with that neighbor here has now switched to a different neighborhood. And if there are different groups in those neighborhoods, that may be a volatile situation.” Thomas-Brown said. “You give it time two-to-three years, that neighborhood turns over and different people are living there,”

Thomas-Brown also said he has heard from community members who want to expand the NoCap program. The Neighborhood Opportunity and Community Accountability Proconsul, known as NoCap, was formed in May 2025 by the Office of Violence Prevention Advisory Board to bring resources to identified areas.

At the end of March, NoCap hosted its “Spring Break Jump Off” at Indian Hills Park, aiming to bring the east side of Columbia together. Markus Williams, a NoCap member, said events like this are important for changing perceptions.

The next meeting is set for Thursday, May 14.

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