COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) – Traffic backed up Friday morning heading into Jefferson City due to a car crash. The Missouri Department of Transportation warned drivers that westbound Highway 54 had been narrowed near the Missouri River Bridge for the crash. A MoDOT camera showed a line of traffic in both lanes on the highway heading
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A man who was accused of raping an 81-year-old dementia patient at a nursing home while he was employed as a certified nursing assistant has pleaded down to lesser charges. Joseph Hull, of Jefferson City, was originally charged with first-degree rape and first-degree sexual conduct with a nursing facility resident. He pleaded guilty
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Beginning Thursday, cellphones will no longer be allowed in the Cole County Courthouse for most members of the public. An order from Aug. 24 that is shared on the county’s website says exceptions are made for attorneys in good standing, state and county employees on court business, law enforcement personnel, jurors, bondsmen
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) No charges will be filed after a gun was found at Blair Oaks Schools on Monday. Cole County Sheriff’s Office said in a release that deputies were contacted around 9:30 a.m. on Monday for a possible weapon offense on school property. Deputies found a student had left an unloaded, small-caliber firearm in
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A gun was found on the campus of another Mid-Missouri school on Monday. Blair Oaks Superintendent Ben Meldrum wrote in a statement to parents a gun was found in a student’s vehicle on campus. Meldrum told ABC 17 News that the gun was “never in any school building.” “Blair Oaks families: This
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“It’s our responsibility as county employees and elected officials that we use that properly and that we don’t put up anything, but then an OpenAI model that could be used for private information,” Ridenhour said.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) An appeals court in Missouri’s western district upheld the conviction of a Cole County man who is serving two life sentences after he was found guilty of raping women. Francis H. Kempker, 55, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without parole for two rapes committed during spring 2016 at his Centertown
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The ramp to Route W from westbound Highway 54 in Jefferson City is scheduled to close for several months beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Motorists will be directed to use the West Main Street exit to eastbound Highway 54 to access Route W, a Friday press release from the Missouri Department of
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Emergency phone lines were restored Wednesday afternoon in Boone and Cole counties after an outage that began in the morning. Jefferson City Police Lt. Curtis Finke said a little before 4 p.m. Wednesday that service for the city and Cole County had been restored by communication carrier Brightspeed. “There was no disruption
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) More than 400 Ameren customers in Boonville were without power on Thursday night. Ameren’s outage map showed that crews were assessing an outage that began at 7:13 p.m. That outage affected 432 customers in Boonville. A restoration time was not available. A second outage was reported just north of that outage that
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A dead body was found floating face down in the Missouri River near the Noren River Access in North Jefferson City, the Jefferson City Police Department announced in a Friday press release. First responders were called at 3:17 p.m. for a report of an unresponsive person floating face down, the release says.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Jefferson City man was indicted by a federal grand jury in a fatal overdose case, according to a Wednesday press release from the Department of justice. Bryan Isiah Thomas, 37, is charged with multiple counts of distributing fentanyl and a count of distributing drugs resulting in death. He is being held
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A hearing was scheduled on Monday for Cole County murder case dating back to 1991. William “Chris” Niemet, of Fulton, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his Russellville classmate Greg Jones in April 1991. Jones was 14. Niemet also would have been 14 at the time. Niemet was charged in 2020 with
Continue Reading COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A murder case dating back to 1991 has gone through another round of dismissal and a demand for reinstatement from the Attorney General’s office. Judge Emily Fretwell had dismissed charges against William “Chris” Niemet on Aug. 11 and again was ordered to vacate that order on Thursday. The same situation occurred last
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Cole County judge ruled Wednesday that the Missouri secretary of state was right to reject an initiative petition seeking to check the General Assembly’s power to change voter-approved policy. Daniel Green issued the ruling a day after the parties argued in court. Three Missouri residents, including Jamie Howard of Jefferson City,
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Missouri Department of Natural Resources awarded the Cole County Public Water Supply District No. 5 a $30,000 grant for a drinking water engineering report grant, according to a Tuesday press release from the DNR. The release says the district will use the money to evaluate its drinking-water system. The DNR offers
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) – The head of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Troop F is getting a promotion. The patrol announced Monday morning that Capt. Jason Crites would become a major in the department, and begin leading the Executive Services Bureau. That branch oversees services like records, budget, research and the governor’s security. Crites started
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) Cole County residents should expect a knock on their door soon as the Cole County Assessor’s Office starts a mass reinspection plan. Every odd-numbered year, there is a reassessment of the value of residential properties. This property value then determines property taxes. This year, the assessor’s office is gathering detailed information
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Power outages were reported around Mid-Missouri on Thursday after heavy rain and storms went through the area. At 2:27 p.m., Columbia had two outages affecting 126 electricity customers on Stadium Boulevard and in a neighborhood near Forum Boulevard. The outage map for the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives showed 477 Callaway Electric
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) The Cole County Jail is holding 14 inmates who have been court-ordered for psychiatric care, but officials are saying they do not have enough facility resources to provide mental health care to inmates. In a Facebook post by Cole County Sheriff John Wheeler, the Cole County Jail has 160 inmates, and
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