Category: kmiz-local-news

Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia’s Office of Violence Prevention Administrator D’Markus Thomas-Brown is looking to help youth reach their academic and career goals.

“Anecdotally, CPS and different organizations have identified that 13-to-17 age range where we’re seeing some of the violence,” Thomas-Brown said. “So, a program that targets that directed demographic and seeing the success they have with the mentorship and the workforce development it was just mind boggling to me and I was like this is a no brainer.”

Thomas-Brown said the idea stems from a recent trip city leaders took to Columbia, South Carolina. The program would mirror Young Men United, a youth mentoring program Columbia, South Carolina launched in the spring of 2023.

Jabari Bodrick, director of education and resiliency at the United Way of the Midlands in South Carolina, said their program is based off the MKE scholars program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The program touts an 85% college graduation rate from its participants.

According to Bodrick, the initiative focuses on surrounding boys in 10th and 11th grades with year-round development opportunities through workshops, internships, job-shadowing experience and mentorship.

The program focuses specifically on working with youth to clarify their career goals and life goals to move forward in life.

“What separates young men in this from other programs is that we stay with young men until they enter the workforce,” Bodrick said. “So, if we meet you when you’re 16 years old in 10th grade, and we use them as students in 10th and 11th grade, we stay with you until you enter the workforce.”

Bodrick said the program is volunteer-based, including both those who are in the program, as well as those who work as mentors. He said it works with young men in 10th and 11th grade because they want to make sure they’ve adjusted and acclimated to high school.

“You can never start too early. I’d love it if we had young boys and started in kindergarten, but it’s just not realistic,” Bodrick said.

Thomas-Brown said the program for Columbia, Missouri. is in the preliminary stage, and he’s currently looking into the feasibility of the program, as well as which community-based organizations in the city would possibly take it on.

The city currently has several youth mentor programs, and programs that work with at-risk youth.

Job Point Columbia also focuses on helping people find jobs in the city through career planning. Thomas-Brown said he thinks the young mens program differs from these because it would be specifically school-based.

If launched, schools would be able to identify students they think could participate. That would then be followed-up with an application.

As a leader who works toward early intervention initiatives in the city to help reduce crime, Thomas-Brown said he doesn’t think the program itself would stop young men from turning toward violence. Rather, he believes it would give them the opportunity for something else.

“Give them opportunities to HVAC, open them up to the Missouri Conservation Department or open them up to welding,” Thomas-Brown said. “I think it helps provide another venue and gives them another reason to not do something that’s going to be adverse to their development long-term like prison, incarceration or death.”

Thomas-Brown said the program would focus on both helping young men get to college, but also enter into a career path instead for those who don’t wish to take the college route. He said he also thinks it could be beneficial for youth who may not have parental guidance.

“I think some of the young men who didn’t even know how to do a college visit, but they were sought because of their athletic abilities but didn’t have the parental guidance to get them to their college visit,” Thomas-Brown said. “So, they didn’t go to college, or they went and they took a very, very low bar access when they could have just been able to go to their mentor to look at the offer letters and what to look at.”

Lonnie Lockhart Bey, who works with at-risk youth through Destiny of H.O.P.E. said he welcomes any mentorship programs in the city.

“There are enough children in there and there are not enough agencies to really fulfill that role so whatever is brought here and is going to benefit the children, I definitely agree with,” Lockhart Bey said.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Jefferson City Police Department announced on Tuesday evening that it arrested a man who was wanted for sexually assaulting a child last week.

Augustus Armstead Jr., 37, was charged on Friday with first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy. He is being held at the Cole County Jail without bond. A mugshot was not immediately available on Tuesday evening. No bond was set and a court date has not been scheduled.

Court records also show a failure-to-appear warrant was issued on Monday for Armstead in another Cole County case where he is charged with two counts of second-degree assault, one count of tampering with a witness and a count of misdemeanor third-degree kidnapping.

Police wrote in the release that they were assisted by the Osage County Sheriff’s Office while detaining Armstead at 5:20 p.m. Tuesday in Linn, Missouri.

Court documents in previous reporting say the victim’s father found Armstead with the victim in the victim’s room on Thursday.

Armstead allegedly asked the victim to record the intercourse and the victim gave the recording to police, the statement says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An arson investigation is underway after officials say a church in Johnson County was intentionally set on fire on Monday night.

The Johnson County Fire Protection District wrote in a Tuesday morning press release that Leeton United Methodist Church in the 100 block of North Wall Street was set ablaze.

Crews were called around 9:15 p.m. Monday and saw heavy smoke and flames coming from the 129-year-old church, the release says. The building remains standing after firefighters spent three hours putting out the fire, the release says.  

The Missouri State Fire Marshal’s Office investigated and determined the fire was intentionally started, though additional details weren’t included in the press release.

“It’s heartbreaking to see a place that has stood for generations be deliberately set on fire,” JCFPD Capt. Joe Jennings said in the release. “This church isn’t just a building; it’s part of the history and identity of Leeton. Seeing it damaged in this way is difficult for the entire community.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A teenager from Paris, Missouri, had his Audrain County homicide case refiled on Tuesday.

Charles Armour, born in 2006, was charged with first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of first-degree robbery in the Nov. 30, 2023, death of Matthew Stewart. Stewart, 23, was found dead with gunshot wounds on County Road 556 near Vandalia.

A confined docket hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday at the Audrain County Courthouse.

Audrain County Prosecutor Jacob Shellaberger told ABC 17 News the case was refiled because the appeals court found it did not have a record of Armour’s original adult certification hearing. The hearing was not recorded properly, Shellaberger said. He was recertified as an adult on Monday. He was originally charged when he was 17 years old.

Another man in the case, Christopher Brickey, of Laddonia, is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He has a case review scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29.

A probable cause statement says deputies found Stewart bleeding in a ditch from his head and torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Law enforcement also found shell casings at the scene, the statement says.

Stewart allegedly planned on selling a gun to Brickey and Armour and the three left a home to “range test” it, the statement says. Stewart’s roommate called him after some time and Stewart allegedly stated he was shot by the defendants, the statement says.

The statement says Brickey told deputies that Armour planned on killing Stewart, but planned on Brickey shooting first. Brickey allegedly admitted to shooting Stewart with Stewart’s gun.

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Mitchell Kaminski

HALLSVILLE, Mo. (KMIZ)

A crowd of more than 60 community members, teachers and staff gathered Tuesday night in the Hallsville Secondary Cafeteria as district leaders outlined plans for Proposition 2 and the proposed continuation of the four-day school week on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Superintendent Tyler Walker said the district’s goal is to ensure residents have accurate information and an opportunity to ask questions before the election.

Proposition 2 would authorize the issuance of $6.5 million in general obligation bonds to continue addressing the district’s facility needs. Voters approved the measure on April 8 with 75% support, but the State Auditor’s Office later declined to certify the bond because the Boone County Clerk’s Office did not meet publication requirements outlined in Missouri law.

Under state statute, the clerk’s office must publish legal notice in two newspapers of general circulation with differing political affiliations at least one week before the election. Walker said the notice was published too early.

“The way that was described to me is that’s how she [Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon] has always done it,” Walker said. “She generally, because Boone County has a lot of weekly newspapers and not a lot of daily newspapers, she always tries to err on the side of caution and put something of a publication in the newspaper a week too early rather than too late and that’s kind of been her general practice.”

Because of the certification issue, the Hallsville Board of Education voted in June to place Proposition 2 on the November ballot and approved final bond language in July. Walker said design teams have met bi-weekly for the past five months, with Phase 2 designs now about 60% complete and an estimated cost of $5.8 million.

According to Walker, Phase 2 has been in planning since 2021, when the district began conducting community surveys to identify facility needs.

If approved, Proposition 2 would fund the second phase of a three-phase improvement plan, including expanded parking and improved traffic flow on the main campus, new classrooms at Hallsville Primary School, a relocated baseball field, a multipurpose field with an artificial surface, additional security doors at school entrances, and refinancing of a lease-purchase agreement. Phase 1, completed in 2024, included a new middle school wing, storm shelter, and football field.

Walker said the district will need 67% voter approval in November — up from the 57% threshold required in April.

“We have to have a 67%, which adds a little bit more drama to the whole thing, if you will,” he said. “But again, in April we had 75%. So we’ve got about an 8% buffer, which you’d like to have. I’m confident that our community is going to support us again.”

If Proposition 2 does not pass, Walker said it would be difficult for the district to fund needed projects.

“It makes it really difficult because we have to have this money. We don’t have a high assessed valuation,” he said. “So this valuation is based on the businesses in our community and we just don’t have a lot of that in Hallsville. So we rely on a lot of state aid and bond issues to be passed in order to get the funding we need to advance the projects. We know that parking is a big thing and we’re going to continue on with that as quickly as we can.”

The forum also addressed the district’s four-day school week, which began in 2022. The current schedule exceeds state instructional requirements by 33 hours, according to district officials.

A “yes” vote on Nov. 4 would allow Hallsville to continue the four-day week for the next 10 years, pending Board of Education approval. 

A “no” vote would require a return to a five-day schedule with 21 additional school days, which Walker said would add about $190,000 in costs to the district budget to pay bus drivers, janitors, and maintenance staff.

Walker said the four-day week has helped the district stay competitive in recruiting and retaining quality educators.

“The four-day school week allows us to recruit and retain those teachers that may be enticed to go to a larger district with a higher salary,” Walker said. “And so we aren’t able to provide that same salary. And so in order to be competitive and get those teachers to Hallsville, we have to think outside the box a little bit. That outside-the-box thinking has brought us to the four-day school week, which has allowed us to better recruit, better retain those high-quality veteran teachers that we’re looking for.”

Walker emphasized that both the bond proposal and the four-day week are ultimately about providing the best environment for students.

“The very underlying issue is that we’re trying to do the best we can for kids,” he said. “So whether that’s building new facilities, upgrading facilities, adding more safety or if it’s recruiting high-quality teachers to the classroom, it’s for our kids and I think our community understands that.”

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Damage from digging led to more than 900 Ameren Missouri customers in the southwest Jefferson City area losing power for hours on Tuesday afternoon.

The utility’s outage map showed 945 customers without power in an outage that started at 1:38 p.m. Power had been restored by 3:15 p.m., the map showed.

An Ameren spokesperson says a third party hit an underground power line, causing the outage.

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Marie Moyer

Editor’s note: A statistic about the number of fatal crashes has been updated.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The daughter of a 56-year-old Jefferson City man who died in a dump truck crash while riding his bicycle on Monday is hoping to raise awareness about the need for safety improvements along Business Loop 70.

Columbia police identified the victim of Monday’s crash as Roger Bone after he was hit by a dump truck while on a bike near the intersection of Business Loop 70 and Range Line Street. Police have yet to give details on how the crash occurred. A Columbia Police Department spokesman said no other details are being released.

Bone’s daughter, Alexis Hurst, said she and Bone were estranged, but that she had many memories with him growing up and with his grandchildren.

“He was a hard person to get along with, but he was still my dad, and we had a lot of great memories,” Hurst said. “When I was a kid, he bought me Light Bright, I remember, and he let me just paint his toenails and fingernails. He used to tell me how much he loved me.”

Hurst said Bone was homeless at the time of the crash.

“He worked so hard. He tried so hard. He was born in ’69, and he was still working two jobs just in the last year,” Hurst said. “Not to be able to hear him say, ‘I love you,’ it’s unbearable.”

Hurst also voiced concern about the state of the Business Loop and its need for improvements following a recent audit of the area that found a need for crosswalks and improved signal timing for traffic lights.

“The audit identified a bunch of areas for growth, for improvement, especially around vulnerable road users,” Chief Executive Officer of nonprofit Local Motion Mike Burden said. “Everybody deserves to get where they need to go, regardless of how they get there.”

State traffic crash reports show 11 crashes at the Range Line/Business Loop 70 intersection since Jan. 1, 2020, including property damage and injuries.

Monday’s crash is also the third fatal crash with a bicycle reported in Columbia since 2024, according to an email from CoMo to Zero Coordinator Krista Shouse-Jones.

“They need to fix all of that, so people don’t deal with this again, because it’s heartbreaking that I see people posting that they didn’t even know it was their own child [in the crash],” Hurst said. “I live in Fredricktown [Missouri] and there are traffic signals all out, traffic cones and road construction signs, even temporary.”

Carrie Gartner, director of The Loop beautification organization, said that the city is still collecting data and public opinion for Business Loop improvements, with a final report expected in late February or early March.

Bone’s family has set up a GoFundMe for funeral arrangements.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man was charged in Gasconade County after he allegedly admitted to shooting his brother on Monday in the 3000 block of Idel Road near Rosebud.

Carson Adams, of Rosebud, was charged with first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action. He was detained and a $50,000 bond was set. His mother Cynthia Adams was charged with two misdemeanors – resisting arrest and interfering with a first responder – and is being held on a $1,000 bond. Mugshots were not immediately available on Tuesday afternoon.

The Gasconade County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a social media post that it was called about a man being shot and the suspect — who allegedly made threats to shoot law enforcement– running into a wooded area.

The victim was shot in the leg and was flown to Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, according to the probable cause statement. Carson Adams allegedly admitted to law enforcement that he fired two shots at his brother, the statement says.

The victim allegedly used his own belt “as a makeshift tourniquet” until first responders arrived, the statement says.

The shooting allegedly occurred near burn pile and law enforcement found the gun in the woods near the area, court documents say. Two shell casings were also found in the area, the statement says.

Cynthia Adams allegedly yelled at officers to put their guns away when they arrived and “ignored repeated commands,” a second probable cause statement says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

No injuries were reported after a house caught fire Monday evening in the 8400 block of Zumwalt Road in Boone County.

The Southern Boone County Fire Protection District wrote in a social media post that crews were called at 7:25 p.m. and saw heavy smoke coming from the home when they arrived.

“Firefighters quickly went to work to bring the fire under control,” the post reads. “Thankfully, everyone made it out safely, and no injuries were reported. Firefighters remained on scene to ensure all hot spots were fully extinguished.”

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Missouri appeals court on Tuesday rejected a former Missouri House clerk’s claim that she was a whistleblower for misdeeds by the House speaker.

Judge Lisa White Hardwick with the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals wrote that Dana Miller did not sufficiently prove that former House Speaker Dean Plocher was her supervisor, or that he could retaliate against her. Miller filed the lawsuit last year, accusing Plocher of violating House regulations, mismanagement, waste of public funds, abuse of authority and other misdeeds.

Miller alleged that Plocher targeted her for retaliation after she reported his actions related to a state contract. The court noted that Plocher had no direct authority to fire Miller because only the full House could do so.

Dana Miller appeal decisionDownload

Miller’s allegations against Plocher sparked a months-long investigation that did not issue a finding of wrongdoing against Plocher. Miller retired last year.

Tuesday’s ruling upheld a Cole County judge’s order dismissing the lawsuit.

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