Category: kmiz-local-news

Matthew Sanders

The ceasefire based on a “memorandum of understanding” between the United States and Iran might be on its shakiest ground yet.

The week started with Iran firing on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which led to an American military response against Iranian targets. It’s the most significant outbreak of fighting since the two countries reached an agreement to stop hostilities.

The U.S. also reimposed oil sanctions against Iran, striking another blow against the spirit of the memorandum.

Do you support this new round of military strikes? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 22-year-old Eldon woman was seriously injured in a crash on Tuesday on Highway 42 near Pine Tree Lane in Miller County, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The report says the woman drove her 2018 Chevrolet Equinox eastbound when it went off the road and hit a tree.

The woman had serious injuries and was brought to Lake Regional Hospital by ambulance, the report says. She was wearing a seatbelt, according to the report.

The vehicle was totaled.

MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 69-year-old man from Linn died Tuesday night in an ATV cash near a residence in Osage County, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The report says the crash occurred as a 2025 Honda Rancher started to slide and then overturned. The man was ejected from the vehicle. He was not wearing a helmet, the report says.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Osage County coroner, according to the report. The man’s body was brought to Morton Funeral Home, according to the report.

MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Kansas man was arrested and charged after a short chase on Tuesday that began in Cooper County and ended just before the Stadium Boulevard exit on Interstate 70 in Columbia.

Jonathan Myles, 36, of Topeka, Kansas, was charged in Cooper County with aggravated fleeing, first-degree endangering the welfare of a child, misdemeanor speeding and an infraction of endangering a highway worker. He is being held at the Cooper County Jail on a $100,000 bond. A court date has not been set.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol wrote on Troop F’s social media that a plane was used to find Myles’ Dodge Durango. MSHP wrote that Myles was wanted out of Kansas on suspicion of child endangerment. New charges have not appeared in Kansas online court records as of Tuesday evening.

The probable cause statement says that the gray Dodge with temporary tags from Kansas was found on the shoulder of the rest area at the 104-mile marker of I-70. Myles allegedly sped off eastward after seeing the trooper, the statement says.

Myles’ vehicle allegedly went 96 miles per hour at one point through a 55-mph construction zone, the statement says.

Spike strips were used near the 121-mile marker and Myles stopped the vehicle while it was smoking at mile marker 123, which is just west of the Stadium Boulevard exit in Columbia.

Myles’ 2-year-old son was found inside the vehicle “unrestrained,” court documents say.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Cole County Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a contract for a strategic assessment study of emergency communications.

The consulting contract with TUSA will cost $29,725. A packet from the county shows TUSA have assisted agencies in Jasper, Grundy, Johnson, Christian, Jackson, Platte, Clay, Gentry and Newton counties as well as the University of Missouri-Kansas City, North Kansas City Pleasant Valley, Raytown, Riverside, Independence, Kansas City, Lexington, Liberty, Gladstone and Grandview.

TUSA will evaluate whether Cole County EMS Emergency Communications Center can “feasibly assume dispatch services for the County Sheriff,” the packet says.

The study is expected to help the county get a better idea on expenses, which includes money paid to Jefferson City.  The study is expected to last 145 project hours at an hourly rate of $205.

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Olivia Hayes

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Tuesday against a local senior care facility.

James Callison’s mother Mary Carter was admitted to Heisinger Bluffs Senior Living Community on Aug. 6, 2024, after being hospitalized from a fall while facing other medical diagnoses, like dementia, the petition says. She died May 2025.

Callison has accused Heisinger Bluffs Senior Rehab and Health Care Center, along with Green Tree Healthcare Management MO and HB Operations Holdco, of medical negligence, such as improper wound care, not ensuring employees were properly trained and not properly monitoring her food and water intake. It also makes allegations of violating the Missouri Omnibus Nursing Home Act.

Court filings say Carter was documented as “at-risk” and “high-risk” on the Braden Scale. The Braden Scale is the standard health are scale for predicting an individual’s risk for pressure injuries, like bed sores.

The lawsuit claims Heisinger Bluffs failed to develop or implement an effective pressure injury prevention care plan for Carter and did not monitor or document her skin integrity in a timely manner. The claims go onto say staff was not consistently turning or repositioning Carter in appropriately.

On Feb. 18, 2025, the petition says Callison first documented a Stage III pressure injury to Carter’s sacrum. Court documents note sometime around late April 2025, Carter’s pressure injury progressed from Stage III to Stage IV. Carter died not long after on May 10, 2025, at Heisinger Bluffs while under hospice care, with the Stage IV pressure injury still present.

The petition calls Carter’s pressure wound “avoidable” and said it caused her severe pain, anxiety, mental distress and put her at risk of an infection. Callisons claims the lack of proper care and neglect caused or contributed to her death.

Concerns were also raised around the training of Heisinger Bluffs’ staff. The lawsuit says the facility did not provide proper oversight and failed to properly discipline employees. Competency of the caregivers was also questioned in court documents.

Along with the allegations of poor medical treatment and unqualified staff, Callisons claims the facility also failed to provide proper nutritional and hydration support for Carter. Court documents state meals and fluids were not placed within reach and staff was not making sure Carter finished her food.

This is also listed as playing a role in Carter’s eventual death.

Callison is requesting a jury trial in the case. ABC 17 News reached out to Heisinger Bluffs for comment, a spokesperson for the facility said it would work to provide one after familiarizing themselves with the lawsuit.

Summons were issued for the defendants on Tuesday.

Heisinger Bluffs settled a different wrongful death lawsuit in May.

That lawsuit – which was filed in December 2023 by Bryan Tracy and the estate of Oma Tracy – accused the facility of wrongful death, lost chance of survival, negligence and violating the Missouri Omnibus Nursing Home Act. It was settled on May 13 and eventually dismissed on May 29.

Check back for updates.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

One City of Columbia landfill worker is in recovery Tuesday after he was seriously injured Monday in a machinery accident.

The worker who was seriously injured was operating a hydroseeder that was being pulled by a tractor when it fell into a large hole. The worker using the tractor also reportedly had some bruises following the incident.

 “We were really thankful when the fire department and EMS showed up  to lend a hand,” City Landfill Superintendent Adam White said. “We’re happy that the employee’s, recovering and getting the medical treatment that he needs.”

Crews were tending to a leachate seep, a leak in the side of a landfill that occurs when decomposing water becomes trapped in the landfill and seeps out. Ideally, water that collects inside of the landfill drains naturally through the dirt and trash and is collected at the bottom, where it is processed and put back into the water.

“Think of a layer cake: you have different sections of the layer cake and then you have the icing in between, those icing sections are the soil, we don’t want a layer cake,” White said. “We want that material to be continuous trash, no soil and our mix so that way that liquid has that free path to move vertically down.”

White said seeps are not common. When treating a leak, White said, crews dig out the area to get to the water, where it is either pumped out or a line is dug to drain it to the bottom of the landfill. Crews use the hydroseeder to spray the sides of the hole with an adhesive material to prevent trash from blowing away during the work.

“It was a combination of weight and angle,” city utilities spokesman Jason West said. “The tractor was backing down a slope, which redistributed the weight of the trailer. The pull of the trailer became too much for the tractor and it began to slide into the trench.”

White added the tractor is still operational and only had minor damage. The department is inspecting the hydroseeder which had the most damage, specifically around it’s motor. The hole is expected to be drained by the end of the day Tuesday and filled by Wednesday.

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Sutton Parker

COLUMBIA MO. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Water and Light Board on Tuesday recommended new utility rate increases to the City Council.

The board proposed a 6% rate that would apply to the usage portion of residents’ bills, meaning users will pay more for each unit of electricity that is used.

The new increase will not affect the flat base rate of $22.44, which will remain the same regardless of your monthly consumption.

Assistant Director of Electric Utility Gwen Corches said if approved, the new revenue will go to targeting system upgrades.

“The rate increase that’s being discussed right now is more focused around existing infrastructure needs, aging infrastructure, new projects that we’re facing, such as the Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project, and just our cash reserve levels,” he said.

When it comes to the increase, Columbia Water and Board Member David Switzer said without the increase, it could put Columbia Utilities at risk.

“So to not commit to a 6% increase would mean that we would not meet our minimum financial obligation, putting our credit rating at risk, and we can’t do things like the other thing we proposed today, which is advanced metering infrastructure, which has all types of benefits for the community,” he said.

The proposed advanced metering infrastructure project is something officials say is long overdue and much needed for the city.

“I think it’s going to be one of the most transformative projects for the city of Columbia. It’s going to give so much agency to every resident and business to look at their bills, being able to see what’s driving their peak demands, what’s driving their cost,” Corches said.

The most-recent increases came in 2023 and was a 6.9% jump, followed by a 2% increase in 2025.

Switzer said that the longer increases are put off, the higher they will be down the line.

“People don’t like rate increases; rate increases are not fun and not enjoyable, but what is worse is when you put them off, and then you need massive, massive rate increases in the future,” he said.

He added that everywhere is experiencing electrical influxes.

“The reality is that the electric market in general is in a state of flux. This is what is minimally required for the financial future of the utility to be secured,” he said.  

Columbia Utilities recently completed an electric infrastructure resource plan that was designed to study the best ways to modernize the electric capacity needs for the city. Corches added with aging infrastructure and expiring power purchase agreements, the city is searching for the most cost-effective way to secure Columbia’s future energy capacity.

Corches said that when workshopping the plan, the city looked at sxi different scenarios.

“The last one is more realistic, it is probably the best one because it is a very diversified portfolio, so we will not have all of our eggs in one basket,” Corches said.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The budget to upgrade Boone County’s radio system could see a $1.13 million increase.

The county entered into an agreement last month with several local agencies in order to upgrade its radio system. Previous reporting shows the county had been looking n into upgrading its VHF system to an 800MHz system for nearly a decade, though talks heated up last fall.

Documents provided by the county show the commission may need to adjust its $8.17 million budget to $9.3 million as it got closer to finalizing contracts. Joint Communications Director Christie Davis told ABC 17 News in an email that the funding would come from the 911/Office of Emergency Management tax.

Davis said the projects are on schedule and equipment should be getting delivered this week, with the installation being completed by October.  

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was found guilty of murder last year in Monroe County has appealed the case.

Lyle Miller, 68, of Madison, Missouri, was found guilty by a jury on March 21, 2025, of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the December 2021 death of  Betty Hayes, 88.  Miller was arrested in July 2023.

Court documents in previous reporting claim a witness told law enforcement that they saw Miller driving quickly away from Madison the night Hayes went missing. Her remains were eventually found in a pond.

Miller is currently being held at South Central Correctional Center in Licking.

A notice of appeal was filed last year and it was accepted recently in the Eastern District Court of Missouri. It will be heard on Sept. 22.

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