Jefferson City man remains jailed on accusation of punching 7-year-old

Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man remained in the Cole County Jail on Monday after he was charged the previous day with punching a 7-year-old in the head.

Ryan J. Duhon, 34, is charged with first-degree assault, third-degree assault and child abuse for the incident at a mobile home park in the 5100 block of Business 50 W., court records say. He was jailed without bond.

A witness told a Cole County deputy that Duhon and the 7-year-old boy were playing when Duhon said something about the boy needing discipline, a probable cause statement says. The witness then saw Duhon punch the boy in the face, the statement says.

The witness told the deputy that Duhon was drunk.

Duhon told deputies that “there was guidance that needed given,” so he acted, according to the statement.

Duhon kicked the patrol car door and a deputy when he was taken to jail, the statement says. He also mentioned wanting to talk to the victim and threatened to find out where a deputy lives, according to the statement.

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Cole County man accused of slashing mother in head with knife

Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Cole County man was charged Saturday after his arrest for allegedly attacking his mother with a knife, slashing her in the forehead.

Andrew Henderson is charged with first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action for the alleged attack in an apartment on Dewberry Drive, according to court records.

Deputies found Henderson walking away from the scene after the Saturday afternoon incident, a probable cause statement says. Henderson allegedly told deputies he lost his temper and “did not mean to do that,” according to the statement.

Deputies found the victim inside the apartment being treated by EMS. She had blood on the front of her shirt and a 4-inch cut over her eye, the statement says. The woman told deputies that Henderson began throwing things at her after an argument, then chased her and cut her with the knife, according to the statement.

Investigators found a kitchen knife with a broken handle in the bathroom and blood on the wall, the statement says.

Henderson remained in the Cole County Jail late Monday on no bond.

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Woman pleads guilty to stealing from Centralia Band Booster Club

Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman accused of stealing almost $6,000 from the Centralia Band Booster Club pleaded guilty on Monday.

Jeanie Whitlatch pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of stealing after she stole from the club in 2024. Court records show prosecutors amended her charge from a felony count of stealing to a misdemeanor.

Whitlatch was given unsupervised probation with a 30-day suspended jail sentence.

Court documents state Whitlatch was the treasurer for the Centralia Band Booster Club on Feb. 1, 2024, when the booster club reported she stole $5,784.37 from its bank account.

Court documents claim Whitlatch was paying herself with the application CashApp and paid for services such as DoorDash, Amazon Prime and a recurring Spectrum bill.

Sentencing documents state Whitlatch has paid $5,775 in restitution.

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Kehoe appoints 16-member task force to modernize school funding in Missouri

Mitchell Kaminski

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Less than two decades after its last major revision, Missouri’s public school funding formula is headed for a rewrite. 

A newly created 16-member Missouri School Funding Modernization Task Force appointed by Gov. Mike Kehoe is set to begin the process of modernizing the state’s K-12 foundation formula, which has drawn criticism from lawmakers, educators, and charter advocates alike for being outdated and inequitable.

Missouri’s school funding formula was last significantly updated in 2005, following earlier versions established in the mid-1970s and revised in the early 1990s. 

“If you look at property tax values in 2006 and you go into property tax values today, they’re not anywhere comparable. There have been a lot of changes that have happened,” Rep. Ed Lewis (R-Moberly), one of four lawmakers appointed to the Missouri School Funding Modernization Task Force, told ABC 17 News. “Out of the 500 and some schools that we have in the state, 500 plus, between a half and two-thirds of them are not truly on formula because of being overrun with large districts. And so it’s time for a rewrite.”

The current formula is designed to reflect what is considered necessary or adequate to provide a quality education. To determine that amount, the state analyzed spending levels in high-performing districts that met state academic expectations.

The task force, established by Executive Order 25-14, will evaluate and recommend updates to the state’s foundational funding structure. Lewis says the task force will hold it’s first meeting on June 2nd, beginning an 18-month process. A final report is due to the governor by December 1, 2026.

Charter Advocates Call for Long-Term, Student-Focused Solutions

Among those appointed is Noah Devine, executive director of the Missouri Charter Public School Association. Devine, who grew up in Columbia and graduated from Hickman High School, has spent the bulk of his professional career working in education in Missouri.

Devine said that before legislative action in 2022, the state’s funding model left charter schools underfunded compared to their traditional counterparts. 

“The state of Missouri, through the state aid, was actually paying charter schools sort of in an indirect manner to basically make up the difference from the local aid that traditionally comes to your any local district,” Devine said. “Up until 2022, those actually accidentally shortchanged charter schools by give or take between a thousand to 15 hundred bucks, a kid, which at a classroom level is a lot of money. In 2022, though, the state legislature fixed that.”

Today, he believes charter schools are on equal footing in terms of funding.

 “Right now, today charter public schools are funded equitably or equivalently to the traditional district schools in the districts in which they reside, which is all I would ever ask for. We believe you fund the kid,” Devine said. 

Devine emphasized the need for a long-term solution.

“We simply need to modernize the formula. What I would argue my position is going to be not for today, not for 2025, but so that it lasts until 2050. I probably will outlast my lifetime. We need a formula that is able to do that and also provide our schools, our teachers, our educators, the resources that they need to meet Missouri’s great families and great students,” Devine explained. 

He added that despite differences in individual student needs, the focus must remain on student-centered funding. “We believe that at the end of the day, a child is a child is a child. A five-year-old, here is a five-year-old, there is a five-year-old, you know, in Columbia, which, when I see that we believe that you fund the student,” Devine said. “Now, of course, there are differences. You have a student who has special needs. That might be additional funding, as is the case in Missouri. You have a student who is potentially low-income, that is also a different weight, but generally speaking, a student is a student.”

Devine acknowledged that updating the formula won’t be easy, citing three major hurdles.  

“One major challenge is change is very hard. It’s just hard. You have something you’ve been doing for 20 years and it will be very hard to change it,” Devine said. “ I hope we can surface out of these discussions what states are doing great things on funding, making sure money follows the student, and making sure money gets to the classroom.”

He outlined two additional obstacles: finite funding and the need for accountability.

“To look at the funding formula, to truly look at it, it’s going to be very challenging if we’re only talking about a world where we have the same pot of money or potentially even less because it’s going to result in discussions about value propositions around, well, how much money should go to certain kids and how does it impact a district and how does it impact a charter,” he said. “So a really difficult discussion to have when you’re working with finite resources, but you really are with tax dollars.”

Devine also believes that recent funding boosts haven’t necessarily translated into improved outcomes.

“Even with the inflow of cash that we have had at the state and the federal level, I think it is reasonable to suspect that we need to be judicious with our monies. And to be fair, we’re not where we need to be as a state academically,” Devine said. “Sometimes, as the Show Me State, I think we have a tendency to enact incremental change. This is not a time for incremental change.”

Gov. Kehoe emphasized the need for a formula that reflects the state’s evolving educational needs. 

“We must rethink how we fund Missouri’s foundation formula,” Kehoe said in a release. “We need a modernized funding model that rewards outcomes, encourages innovation, and ensures fairness for all Missouri students.”

Who Is Joining The Task Force?

Senator Rusty Black (R-Chillicothe), a former educator and chair of the task force, said his focus is ensuring that every dollar has an impact. 

“As a former educator, I know firsthand the challenges our teachers face and the importance of ensuring that every dollar we invest in education has a meaningful impact,” Black said in the release. “I’m honored to help lead this important work as we build a funding model that supports student success in every corner of Missouri.”

The other two members of the General Assembly appointed alongside Lewis and Black are Sen. Travis Fitzwater (R- Callaway County) and Rep. Marlene Terry (D- St.Louis).

The task force includes educators, economists, business leaders, and nonprofit representatives. Over the next 18 months, they are expected to review data, explore best practices from other states, and conduct stakeholder engagement before submitting recommendations.

Members of the task force joining Devine include:

Matt Davis, of Eldon, who will represent superintendents from small rural school districts. Davis has more than 25 years of experience in Missouri’s public education system, including 17 years as superintendent of the Eldon School District. He previously led career and technical education programs and worked to secure grant funding for the Eldon Career Center.

Emily LeRoy, of Hermann, was appointed as an at-large member. She serves as a senior advisor at the Missouri Farm Bureau and previously worked at the Missouri Department of Agriculture, where she rose to the role of legislative and budget director.

James “Jim” Meats, of Springfield, will represent the business community. He is vice president of sales and marketing at Loren Cook Company and is a licensed professional engineer. Meats has also worked as a technical consultant for manufacturers and municipalities in southwest Missouri.

Mike Podgursky, of Columbia, will serve as an at-large appointee. He is a professor of economics at the University of Missouri–Columbia and an affiliated scholar with the Sinquefield Center for Applied Economic Research. Podgursky is a nationally recognized expert in school finance.

Don Thalhuber, of Columbia, will also serve as an at-large appointee. He is policy director for the Missouri Senate Minority Caucus and was a lead architect of Missouri’s current school funding formula, adopted in 2005.

Michael “Jeremy” Tucker, of Liberty, will represent superintendents from large urban districts. Tucker is the superintendent of Liberty Public Schools, where he oversees a $279 million budget. He has also worked as a college instructor and high school teacher.

Chris Vas, of Kansas City, will represent nonprofit organizations focused on expanding school choice. He is a senior director with the Herzog Foundation and previously served as executive director of Liberty Alliance USA.

Casey Wasser, of California, will represent the agriculture industry. He is the deputy executive director and COO of the Missouri Soybean Association and formerly served as legislative director for the Missouri Department of Revenue.

David Wood, of Versailles, will represent public school teachers. A former state legislator and teacher, Wood most recently served as a policy analyst for the Missouri State Tax Commission before retiring in 2023.

Two members of the Missouri State Board of Education will also join the task force: Kerry Casey, of Chesterfield, and Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge, of Pasadena Hills.

Casey is a retired vice president of Exegy and a founding board member of the KIPP Charter School in St. Louis. Westbrooks-Hodge is a former board member of the Normandy Schools Collaborative and a retired general partner from Edward Jones, with prior roles at Express Scripts, Anheuser-Busch, and Bank of America.

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Columbia police officers make two dozen arrests during MU’s ‘Reading Day’

Katie Greathouse

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Police arrested two dozen people on Friday during parties celebrating the University of Missouri’s Reading Day.

Officers responded to 45 incidents in the East Campus neighborhood, according to the Columbia Police Department.

Officers arrested 24 people and issued 25 summonses.

Police said the arrests were for charges including minor in possession of alcohol, nuisance party, peace disturbance, possession, DWI, careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

Police said the numbers are preliminary and the department is still working to compile final data.

The Columbia Police Department announced plans on Thursday to increase police presence on Reading Day. Reading Day is a decades-old tradition at the university intended to give students extra time to study and catch up on classwork. 

A letter from UM System President Mun Choi said that in recent years, there have been “sizable gatherings both on and off campus that have disrupted the university and local community.” 

Choi’s letter said the gatherings have created “significant health and safety issues.”

According to previous reporting, several dozen students were arrested during Reading Day in 2024.

Dispatch data showed police responded to at least 39 incidents in the East Campus Neighborhood between 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. last year.

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QUESTION OF THE DAY: Are you ready for summer temperatures?

Matthew Sanders

It’s going to get hot this week.

Temperatures are forecast to be in the 80s all week, maybe even coming close to 90 degrees later in the week. And it’s not quite mid-May yet.

We’ll get well above the average high, which is in the mid-70s. But we’ll stay well below Monday’s record high of 93 degrees, which came back in 2022.

Some people welcome the Missouri heat. Others dread it. What do you think? Are you ready for summertime temperatures in Mid-Missouri?

Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Columbia man accused of shooting person who was cutting through yards

Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man is accused of shooting another man who was walking through yards in a residential neighborhood Friday.

Kieran R. Piersee, 18, was charged Monday with first-degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon for the Friday night shooting in the 900 block of Moss Street. An initial court appearance was set for Monday afternoon.

Piersee is accused of shooting a man in the legs when the man was cutting through yards next to the apartment building where Piersee lives, according to a probable cause statement. Piersee told the victim not to walk through the apartment yard, but the victim replied he was outside the boundaries of the apartment building property, the statement says.

Police say Piersee retrieved a rifle from his apartment, went outside, and shot the victim. A witness saw the shooting, according to police. Officers found a gun magazine with .22-caliber rounds on Piersee, the statement says.

The victim was hit in the left calf and right foot as Piersee fired at his legs and feet, police say.

The victim told investigators that Piersee fired 12-13 times, according to the statement.

Piersee allegedly admitted to shooting the victim because he saw him walking through his backyard talking to himself. He claims he went inside to retrieve a rifle after the two argued because he felt threatened by the man yelling at him, documents say.

According to Former Cole County Prosecutor Bill Tackett, the Castle Doctrine under Missouri law legally allows a person to use lethal force to defend themselves at their home.

Tackett says it does extend to a person’s yard, however, the person has to believe they’re in imminent threat of someone using lethal force against them.

“In other words, someone’s gotta be trying to kill you or cause serious physical injury to you,” Tackett said. “In this case, it’s a simple trespass and we’re not even sure of that. Because someone is trespassing does not authorize them to use lethal force under the castle doctrine or this case, shooting someone in the foot.”

Piersee remained in the Boone County Jail on Monday without bond.

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Local advocates optimistic about federal focus on autism, if done right

Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The head of a local program focused on treating patients with autism spectrum disorder said last week that he hopes plans for a federal database can help uncover the cause of the condition, but it should protect patients’ safety and privacy.

The National Institutes of Health plans to work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to create an autism registry to determine the root cause of autism spectrum disorder.

The Department of Health and Human Services says the two agencies will create the database using insurance claims, electronic medical records and data from wearable devices with health sensors, like smartwatches.

It will focus on Medicare and Medicaid enrollees, about 36% of Americans, and follow autism diagnoses, with plans to expand the research to other chronic health conditions

This move follows ongoing debate, including comments from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has shifted positions on the idea of establishing a registry.

Myles Hinkel, executive director of the Thompson Foundation for Autism and Neurodevelopment, spoke with ABC 17 News last week at a progress event for MU Health Care’s new Thompson Center building. The center treats patients with autism spectrum disorder.

“I think we are all in favor of looking into root causes, looking into different support in therapies that helps kids and families of the autism spectrum but we’re not in favor of doing that in a way that either jeopardizes security, jeopardizes their personal health information or jeopardizes that data in anyway,” Hinkel said.

Uncovering the root causes of autism remains complex and ongoing. Doctors say there are likely many causes.

“It’s something that has been studied for quite a few years, it is such a wide variety of symptoms, likely a wide variety of causes, likely multiple genes, potentially some underlying environmental causes as well, the short answer is we don’t know yet,” Hinkel added.

The new Thompson Center Foundation’s overall goal is to be a source for families that navigate autism.

“At the federal level, things are changing on a daily basis, messaging is coming out on a daily basis, if not an hourly basis,” Hinkel said. “What we want to do is to be an evidence-based, very fact-based resource for our kids and families.”

Eric Cronacher is the father of 15-year-old Ashton Cronacher, who has Down syndrome and is also on the lower end of the autism spectrum.

Eric says he first noticed signs when Ashton was younger and had trouble letting go of unfinished tasks.

“You try to put somebody on a registry and say its who this person is, that a tiny snippet of who that person is,” Eric said.

He worries a federal autism registry would do more harm than good and would treat it like a disease.

“I really do take offense to what they’re trying to do in the sense  you’re trying to limit my son and you’re trying to label him and you’re trying to make it a disease not a disability,” Eric said.

Autism research has been ongoing at the federal level for years, and Eric believes that’s the way it should stay.

“The research the federal government does and the cdc and all those things, those are what we use as our tools and our resources as we are trying do our own individual Kennedy said its on the parents to do it, trust me  theres very few special need parents that don’t do a ton of research and don’t try to better their child’s life.” Eric said.

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Sturgeon man charged in deadly Northern Boone County shooting to be in court Monday

Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Sturgeon man will be in front of a judge Monday afternoon for a hearing, after a deadly shooting in Northern Boone County earlier this month.

Dalton R. Perkins, 31, was charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and first-degree domestic assault in the death of a 56-year-old Sturgeon man. He pleaded not guilty in his arraignment. The Boone County Sheriff’s Office has not identified the victim.

Deputies were called to the 18900 block of Route NN in northern Boone County at about 8 p.m. on May 3, after Perkins shot the victim in a fight, according to the probable cause statement. The man had at least one gunshot wound to the torso and died at the scene despite being given life-saving aid.

The witness who reported the shooting said Perkins shot at them, grabbed their hair and threw them from the porch.

Deputies found Perkins nearby and arrested him.

Dalton will have a scheduled confined docket hearing in front of Judge Kayla Jackson-Williams at 1 p.m. in the Boone County Courthouse.

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Columbia man charged with first-degree murder to be in court Monday

Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man charged with first-degree murder will be in the Boone County Courthouse Monday morning in connection with a deadly shooting in 2023.

John L. Williamson III, of Columbia, will have a pre-trial conference hearing at 9 a.m. before his jury trial, which is set to begin May 20 in front of Judge Stephanie Morrell.

Williamson is charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon after he was accused of killing Azairah Brownlee, 27, of Columbia in December 2023.

She was found lying on the ground Friday night with a gunshot wound to the neck, according to a probable cause statement. Police wrote that a witness to the shooting on Typhoon Court had tried to stanch the bleeding by applying pressure with a cloth.

Officers tried to save Brownlee, but she died at the hospital, according to the Columbia Police Department.

According to the statement, a witness told police that Williamson was Brownlee’s ex-boyfriend. Williamson jumped into the bed of the truck that Brownlee and the witness were sitting in and began yelling, the statement says.

Brownlee got out and she and Williamson fell to the ground during a struggle, the witness allegedly told officers. The witness heard a gunshot, then Williamson told the witness that he had shot Brownlee dead, according to the statement.

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