COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Blue Alert issued after a Lee’s Summit police officer was shot on Sunday has been canceled. According to a social media post from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the alert was canceled at 8 a.m. on Tuesday after Thomas Tolbert, 27, was taken into custody. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) An 18-month process begins on Monday for the Missouri School Funding Modernization Task Force appointed by Gov. Mike Kehoe. The 16-member task force, established by Executive Order 25-14, is looking to modernize the state’s K-12 foundation formula and recommend updates to the state’s foundational funding structure. Missouri’s school funding formula was
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The Secretary of State’s Office laid off 22 employees, including 17 from the Archives and 5 from the State Library, due to recent legislative actions and budget cuts.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Blue Alert was issued Monday morning by the Missouri State Highway Patrol after a police officer was shot in Lee’s Summit. MSHP put an alert out around 8:45 a.m. after a suspect was named in a shooting in Lee’s Summit. A Blue Alert is issued after a member of law enforcement
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) Some employees’ personal health information was possibly taken as part of a data breach of the Missouri Department of Conservation’s systems in February, the agency said Friday. MDC initially alerted employees and the public about the breach in February. At the time, officials thought no personal information was part of the
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NAACP lawsuitDownload COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Missouri NAACP has sued Attorney General Andrew Bailey for failing to include the disparity index, a key racial profiling measure, in the state’s 2023 annual vehicle stops report. The disparity index measures whether officers are stopping minority drivers at a higher rate than white drivers. It is published in
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) Black drivers were again pulled over at a rate surpassing white drivers in Missouri in 2024, according to an annual report released Thursday. The Attorney General’s Vehicle Stops Report is due on June 1 each year, but was released early with that date falling on a weekend. The report provides data
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A lawsuit filed by an umpire who was accused of attacking a woman and a deputy in 2023 was moved to federal court on Wednesday. Neal Sidebottom, of Versailles, was charged in 2023 with first-degree assault and misdemeanor resisting arrest. The case was transferred last year from Camden County to Moniteau County. A judge was
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang issued an order vacating her previous rulings that allowed abortions to continue in Missouri. The action withdraws Zhang’s own prior orders and is procedural with the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday that stopped the enforcement of state abortion regulations. The high court ordered Zhang to end
Continue Reading COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Three people were arrested and charged with misdemeanors after refusing to leave an establishment after a bar fight in Morgan County on Sunday. Nicole Patricia Kusgen, 50, of Jefferson City, was charged with first-degree trespassing, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace. She posted a $10,000 bond and was release from the Morgan
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Two people charged with first-degree murder in Benton County in a Columbia man’s death appeared in court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty. Michael Birnbaum, 28, and Kayley Birnbaum, 35, both of Springfield, Missouri, are charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. They are being held at the Benton County Jail
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday ended a ruling that stopped the enforcement of state abortion regulations, telling a Jackson County judge to try again. The ruling says that Judge Jerri Zhang applied the wrong legal standard when she approved a preliminary injunction in December 2024 to block the enforcement of state
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Gov. Mike Kehoe is calling lawmakers back to Jefferson City. The primary purpose — a public financing package to help keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals in Missouri. Kehoe laid out his plans Tuesday for a special session that will take place next month. The main piece of the session will be legislation to
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) Gov. Mike Kehoe unveiled plans for a special session to take up legislation to incentivize sports teams to stay in Missouri and fund capital projects like a University of Missouri nuclear reactor during a Capitol news conference Tuesday. Kehoe will bring lawmakers together next month to discuss financial incentives for stadium
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The trial over the second-degree arson charge of a Columbia restaurant owner is scheduled for February. Crystal Umfress is charged with felonies in two cases in southeast Missouri. In one case, she’s charged with second-degree arson. A pretrial conference is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2026. The trial is set to start Feb.
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(Editor’s note, 5/27: The story and headline have been updated to reflect a Cole County judge’s changes to the amount of money awarded in the case.) COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Western District Court of Appeals upheld a Cole County jury’s decision to punish agriculture giant Monsanto for diseases developed by those using its product. The
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported fewer deaths, crashes, injuries and arrests on Missouri roads over Memorial Day weekend this year compared to 2024. MSHP wrote in a Tuesday release that from 6 p.m. Friday-11:59 p.m. Monday, there were three fatalities, 182 crashes, 83 people injured and 78 arrests for driving while
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) An Auxvasse man was charged this week with two counts of second-degree statutory rape. Taylor Logan Brown, 25, is being held at the Callaway County Jail without bond. An initial court appearance is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Callaway County Courthouse. The probable cause statement says that the youth was
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) An inmate who is serving a life sentence for murder was charged with several felonies on Tuesday after he allegedly assaulted two corrections officers in 2023. James Henderson, 44, was charged in Cole County with first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action, two counts of violence toward a Department of Corrections
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Millions of low-income Americans could lose food assistance under House Republicans’ tax and spending cuts package, according to a recent Congressional Budget Office analysis.
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