Category: kmiz-local-news

Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia City leaders unanimously approved a new design to the Douglass Park basketball courts during Monday night’s council meeting.

The city had been having discussions about changing the basketball courts since 2023. It was announced in 2023 that the courts would honor Willie Cox, a former assistant coach of the University of Missouri women’s basketball team who died in 2019. Cox also hosted basketball camps at Douglass Park.

Columbia Parks and Recreation voted last month to move forward with an alternative design, after residents pushed back on earlier design concepts claiming it focused too much on the university. The two courts will now be painted blue and gray with white court lines. The west court will also include “Douglass Bulldogs” on each baseline, while the east court will include “Moonlight Hoops – Est. 1989.”

Several residents from the public thanked the city for their willingness to listen to their concerns throughout the process, and expressed the need for additional security at the park. Mayor Barbara Buffaloe also thanked residents for their tenacity in speaking up.

Parks and Recreation Director Gabe Huffington also told the council on Monday that the department intends to install a water fountain with a bottle filler on the east side of the basketball court. That would require an additional $10,000 in park sales tax funding. The water fountain would be open from April through October each year, according to city documents.

Huffington also said Monday night the city is planning to have additional public engagement about the park in 2026. Discussions regarding additional security at the park will be included within those, he said.

Columbia resident Anthony Johnson was vocal throughout the discussions about ensuring the park’s history was preserved through the new design. He told ABC 17 News before Monday night’s vote he would be in favor of the new design. He said he grew up in Columbia and remembers playing on the courts as a child, something he described as a place of unity for the community.

For Johnson, the new design of the courts is bigger than basketball.

“If you look back at the history of Columbia we were segregated, this area down here, this downtown area…this is where the Black people had to live. Our businesses, our homes like this was our community,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he’s excited to re-build the park and some of the programs the city used to have at it. He said discussions are continuing about bringing back Moonlight Hoops.

According to city documents, the theme and the color blue were the most-popular ideas presented by residents during the public engagement portion of the project.

Columbia Resident Stephen Cooper said he’s lived in Columbia his entire life and remembers playing basketball on the courts daily as a child. He said including the name “Douglass Bulldogs” on the court was fitting.

“This is history. You know, it goes way back. A lot of us come up through the projects down there so if you would name it anything else, there’s no history there,” Cooper said.

Renovations will cost roughly $900,000, with funding from the University of Missouri, the Veterans United Foundation and the 2021 Park Sales Tax. Planned upgrades also include new rims, LED lighting and a park shelter.

According to the city, $495,000 will come from a 2023 fiscal year grant, $321,000 will come from the park sales tax and $100,000 is being sourced from donations. Improvements to the courts are expected to begin immediately after approval and must be completed by September 2026 to meet grant requirements, according to Huffington.

Johnson said he believes the most important part of the process is that it was a community-led project. He said the process serves as a stepping stone for him and is hopeful the changes send a message.

“I hear so much they don’t listen to us so what’s the point of wasting our time? That’s people’s reasons for not voting, for not showing up for different things,” Johnson said. “So, this was a process that was done and we came together and expressed how we felt about it and were able to get a different outcome.”

Documents also state that Parks and Recreation has met with funding donors who want to add a Mizzou-themed basketball court honoring Cox in an alternate park location in the city. A decision on that will be made after the city finishes improvements to the Douglass Park courts, Huffington said.

Douglass park council docDownload

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 32-year-old man from Sweet Springs, Missouri, was seriously injured Sunday morning in a crash on Highway 127 at 157th Road in Saline County, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The report says the man was driving a 1999 Toyota Avalon southbound when it went off the road, hit a ditch and overturned.

The man was not wearing a seatbelt and he was brought to Centerpoint Medical Center by ambulance, the report says.

The Toyota was totaled. MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.  

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Gabrielle Teiner

Editor’s note: The total hours a day for the Rapid Care Path method was corrected after source error was noted.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone Health says it is making strides to reduce stressors for patients waiting in the emergency department.

In mid-October, Boone Health fully implemented a new method called the Rapid Care Path to get patients into and out of the emergency department quickly and efficiently, helping staff treat about 500 to 600 more patients each month.

“We’ve decreased our length of stay for discharge patients by about 20 minutes or about 11-10%,” said Boone Health Emergency Department Manager Nick Woods.

The average time a Missouri resident spends in an emergency department from arriving to leaving is 2 hours and 35 minutes, ranking the state 29the longest average wait time among states.

Boone Health sees around 100 patients per day in the Emergency Department. The department has 16 beds. Just last week, on Monday, the department saw more than 120 patients.

The changes have led to a drop from 3.7% of patients leaving without being seen to about 2%, said spokesman Christian Basi.

The Rapid Care Path method uses an area 24 hours a day, every day, for patients dealing with non-life-threatening conditions during busier times.

“It’s a huge win for us, our community, the hospital,” said Woods. “We still have some opportunities to help smooth things out, but overall it’s going well.”

Woods says the biggest noticeable difference with using the new care method is the reduction in the number of patients leaving before being seen or before treatment is completed.

Woods says the department has changed its staffing to help on the front end when patients are checking in, and providers have even increased their staffing numbers to help handle the volume of patients.

“We put a clinical person as the first point of contact for patients checking in, so I think that’s helpful,” said Woods. “And just seeing the provider that much sooner, so people feel like there’s someone quickly seeing them for the concerns they’re having.”

Boone Health’s 2026 budget allowed the department to hire more people, which they are looking to continue.

Boone has also implemented safety measures for staff and patients, such as adding panic buttons and changing door opening devices.

Woods says hospital management is always looking at feedback from staff and patients to see where they can improve.

Since 2020, the number of patients seen in the emergency department has grown nearly 50%. In 2025, the department saw a total of 36,596 patients, compared to 24,445 patients seen in 2020.

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Haley Swaino

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Customer demand at the Columbia Regional Airport is expected to surge as American Airlines expands its flight schedule, United Airlines returns, and Allegiant Airlines adds new service.

The increasing number of passengers flying in and out of COU has sparked the need for additional parking. To address the issue, the city on Monday night unanimously passed an amendment to its fiscal 2026 budget to build a new 600-spot gravel lot south of the terminal near Angel Lane.

The proposal sought $400,000 from the transportation sales tax. Airport staff says increased parking is critical for accommodating growing ridership.

Longtime Columbia resident Patricia Carl lives right down the street from the airport. She said more parking would be beneficial.

“It just seems like the parking lot is full,” Carl said Monday. “I’ve never seen this many cars here.”

She believes many flyers find the free parking a perk.

“When I’m comparing my airfare in the parking as to which airport I’m going to use, that really gives Columbia [Regional] Airport an advantage,” Carl said.

But she said having more spaces available would be beneficial.

“We want people to know that we will be ready for all of the new flights beginning this year,” Airport Manager Mike Parks wrote in an email.

According to city documents, the southside parking lot would be an interim but necessary solution.

“This new lot will serve the immediate needs for parking and will also allow overflow parking as we continue expanding and paving lots closer to the terminal,” Parks wrote in an email.

Plans to pursue longer‑term, paved parking improvements are in the works, city documents say.

The southside lot would be about eight-tenths of a mile from the terminal. Parks said COU would shuttle parkers given how far away it is.

Monday night’s approval allows construction of the parking lot to begin this year. Parks said the airport hopes to get the lot done before more flights start in June.

The project would include erosion control measures, grading, base rock installation, compacted stone surfaces and upgraded entrances and exits.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia is considering a 1% public safety sales tax to help close the multi-million dollar gap in its police and fire retirement fund and support improvements across both departments.

Public safety makes up nearly half of the city’s general fund spending for fiscal 2026, with about $66 million budgeted across police, fire and the municipal court. About a quarter of that fund is sales tax. Around $55 million of the public safety budget goes to employee salaries and benefits, leaving little room for other expenditures.

The city is already forecasting sales tax to come in on the lower end of its initial projection for FY 26 due to little to no growth from FY 25.

The city believes the 1% sales tax would bring in an additional $38 million for public safety departments by fiscal 2028. That money would go into a separate and dedicated account; public safety departments would also still receive about $60 million in general revenue funds.

Sales tax presentationDownload

City officials noted the most critical funding need is the retirement fund for Columbia police officers and firefighters. The police pension has a $66 million funding gap, while fire has a nearly $90 million funding gap for a total of around $156 million.

Columbia Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer explained this move by the city would also move the pension fund to the state pension system and decrease a lot of risk.

“The state system is exceptional, it has a lot of options and it’s very safe,” Schaeffer said. “Ours is very small and I wouldn’t say fragile, but it’s really connected to the market.”

He said being apart of the state pension program will also help recruitment efforts.

“With the new generations, they want the mobility, they want the ability to move across different agencies in a state system.” Schaeffer said. “The state pension system eliminates any barriers to be able to do that.”

Additional priorities include a new police facility and vehicles, the renovation of three fire stations and two new fire stations.

“We have critical needs that involve almost 50-year-old fire stations,” Schaeffer said. “Fire stations four, five and six.”

It will also help fund the fires of 50 new police officers and 40 firefighters over four years. Schaeffer said the extra personnel would make a more immediate impact on the community.

“By adding that fourth person on every company in the city that allows us to send less resources, fire trucks,” Schaeffer said. “A lot of times we have to send two or three fire trucks to get the eight people that we need, but if we had four on we would just send two.”

Columbia has the seventh highest sales tax rate out of the most populated cities in the state, sitting at 7.975%. The new tax would make it the fourth-highest sales tax rate at 8.975%.

The tax increase would have to be passed with a vote by Columbia residents. The City Council will discuss the proposal at its meeting Monday night.

If discussions go as hoped, the issue could be on the August ballot.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia city leaders are set to discuss a proposed 1% sales tax increase to help fund operations and public safety improvements at Monday night’s pre-council meeting.

The plan is expected to bring in an additional $38.6 million for the city to help pay for more police officers and firefighters.

According to a presentation for the meeting, the goal is to hire 50 police officers and 40 firefighters over the next four years. The tax would also fund a new police facility, vehicles, and two fire stations and trucks. It is also expected to bring renovations and upgraded technology for the fire and police departments.

Additionally, some of the money would go towards funding for police and fire pension plans. The current funding gap is 51% for the police pension and 57% for the firefighters’ pension.

If the 1% sales use tax were to go into effect, the presentation provides examples of the increase:

$4 Cup of Coffee: Additional four cents ($4.32 to $4.36)

$12 Meal: Additional 12 cents ($12.96 to $13.08)

$100 Grocer/Retail Purchase: Additional $1 ($107.98 to $108.98)

About 32% of collected sales tax revenue comes from visitors from outside Columbia.

Monday’s pre-council meeting will begin at 5 p.m. in City Hall.

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Matthew Sanders

The first week of the Winter Olympics is in the bag, with mixed results for the United States.

The U.S. was a distant third in the medal count behind Norway and host Italy as of Sunday night. The U.S. was the silver leader with eight medals, however.

But another week of competition is ahead. Will you be watching? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A person rescued from a fire early Sunday in Richland has died.

The Tri-County Fire Protection District posted the update Monday on its Facebook page. The district says it won’t release details about the victim out of respect for privacy.

According to an earlier post, crews were called to the 400 block of North Pine Street in Richland in Pulaski County around 4:30 a.m. Sunday. The callers told the dispatcher that a home was on fire and that someone inside of the home was injured, the post says.

Crews found heavy fire coming from the front side of the home upon arrival.

The victim was treated on scene and transported to a local hospital. They were listed in critical condition as of Sunday morning, the post says.

The district later wrote that it found out about the death that evening.

The fire was brought under control around 5:30 a.m. and the scene was cleared around 8:45 a.m.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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Alison Patton

COLE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The friends of Lawrence Renn Junior, who owned 178 acres of land and wanted to turn it into a county park, are considering the next steps after the land was sold in an auction.

Hawthorn Bank is the trustee of the Renn Trust, which included the farmland, and what Renn’s friends claim to be worth millions of dollars. The bank is also trying to figure out what to do with the trust money and the $2.2 million from the recently sold farmland.

The trust language requires the bank to donate the money to a charitable organization or use it for college scholarships.

“We are getting closer to knowing the full value of the assets in the trust following the sale.  We are working on a plan to distribute funds for college scholarships. Announcements will be coming over the next few months,” Hawthorn Bank’s Jill Dobbs told ABC 17 News over email.

Friends close to Renn are asking the bank to use it to maintain already existing parks.

The trust originally intended for the land to be turned into a memorial park and offered the land to Cole County, with the condition of creating and maintaining the park, which county commissioners declined.

A group of Renn’s friends sued the bank and county to try and stop the auction from happening, but Cole County Judge Joseph Shetler dismissed the case because the group didn’t have legal standing to file the lawsuit.

Now, the group and the bank are trying to figure out what happens next.

Attorney for the group, Dave Bandre, told ABC 17 News that one idea is to put some of the money toward already existing parks in Renn’s name.

“One suggestion has been to see if, per the terms of the Trust, Hawthorn Bank will direct the Trust to donate some or all of the proceeds of the sale to a charitable organization which can fund parks in the late Mr. Renn’s name in some of the small municipalities in Cole county,” Bandre told ABC 17 News on Tuesday.

Mark Knapp, a friend of Renn’s and a beneficiary of the trust, said Bandre presented the idea to the bank. The group met with their attorney Wednesday, where Bandre relayed how the bank took it.

“I’m not saying that can’t happen, but it sounds like he [Bandre] talked to the bank’s attorney and you know, I don’t mean to be rude, but basically the bank was giving us all the finger, you know what I mean? Is kind of how Dave said it,” Knapp said.

Tony Porter, another friend of Renn, said the bank didn’t say no, but it didn’t seem like they were “keen on the idea.”

There’s one more route the group can take: get the attorney general involved.

In Shetler’s decision, he ruled that only Attorney General Catherine Hanaway and her office have legal standing to challenge the bank on how it’s handling the trust.

“Our Office did receive a consumer complaint on this issue, which is still under review. There is no pending legal action from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office on this matter,” a spokesperson for the attorney general told ABC 17 News via email on Wednesday.

However, the attorney general won’t be able to return the land, Bandre said in an email.

“The AG has the ability to protect the interests of the ‘public’ when a charitable trust is involved. My clients (and others) have reached out to the AG to complain that Hawthorn did not do what they were obligated to do as Trustee of Mr. Renn’s Trust,” Bandre said in an email on Wednesday.

A three-person advisory committee was supposed to be formed to guide the Cole County Commissioners on park development, management and maintenance, according to the trust language. The committee was never formed.

Knapp said the committee could have acted to keep the bank accountable with the trust funds, and without the committee, the attorney general will have to step in to make sure the bank isn’t misusing the funds.

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Euphenie Andre

Columbia, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia city leaders will discuss design plans for the Old Plank Road culvert project during Monday night’s city council meeting.

According to the council agenda, city officials said the existing culvert– originally built in 1986– has significantly deteriorated over time. In December 2020, a structural inspection determined that approximately 90% of the metal at the bottom of the structure has rusted through, resulting in the loss of essential bedding material beneath the pipes, the agenda says.

The City of Columbia has appropriated $757,490.18 for the Old Plank Culvert Replacement as part of its system maintenance program.

According to city records, the Streets Department has $29,153.87 encumbered for the project and has spent $26,153.87 so far, leaving a remaining balance of $730,846.61.

The Old Plank Road Replacement Project, managed by Tom Wellman, will replace failing and undersized corrugated metal culverts beneath Old Plank Road near Forum Boulevard. The Public Works project is partially funded through a grant, with the Stormwater Division assisting in covering the remaining costs.

The total project budget is $400,000, with half of that amount currently appropriated.

Plans call for removing the existing culvert and replacing it with a single-opening arch structure. Construction is expected to begin in fall 2026.

Nate Walker lives near the culvert slated for replacement and agrees improvements are needed.

“I think there’s something that needs to be done with this road,” Walker said. “When we had the snow storm about a month ago, you could see there’s not really good ditches or anything here, and it’s very narrow.”

Walker says his main concern is how construction could impact daily life for him and his neighbors.

“The only think that I’m concerned about is access to our homes, access to getting in and out and so forth but I’m not against progress,” he said.

That progress is already visible nearby. The West Old Plank Road exit at the Route K roundabout reopened Feb. 13 after construction began Feb. 5, completing Phase 4 of that project. All driving lanes within the roundabout are open.

Walker said when the roundabout temporarily closed, traffic was rerouted down Old Plank Road — bringing a surge of vehicles past his home.

“All that traffic came by here and it was almost unbearable at times,” Walker said.

Additional work at the roundabout, including sidewalk installation, grading restoration and streetlight installation, is scheduled to continue this spring.

The city is currently working on 27 projects as part of its 10-year Capital Improvement Plan. Of those, two projects are located in Wards 1 and 2, six are in Ward 3, one is in Ward 4, three are in Ward 5 and three are in Ward 6.

Monday night’s meeting is at 7 p.m. at Columbia City Hall.

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