COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Hurricane Melissa has left a path of devastation across the Caribbean, slamming Jamaica as a Category 5 storm — the strongest hurricane the island has ever recorded. Officials in Jamaica have confirmed 19 deaths, with the government warning that the death toll could continue to rise as crews search through hard-hit areas.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Starting Saturday, SNAP benefits won’t be loaded onto EBT cards for people to buy food, which may put an extra financial strain on SNAP recipients that are pet owners. Unchained Melodies Dog Rescue Director Melody Whitworth said she’s seen a year-long trend of people rehoming pets because they can no longer afford
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Columbia residents Saturday raised nearly $45,000 in a fundraiser walk to end amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Some people got together in teams to raise large sums of money to donate, while others donated individually to the national ALS Association for research on the disease. The one-mile walk at the Cosmo-Bethel Park
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Thousands of Mid-Missourians could soon face food insecurity as the federal government halts SNAP benefits on Nov. 1. In response, Boone County and the City of Columbia are redirecting money and reactivating CoMoHelps, an emergency relief portal created to coordinate community aid. The effort is led by Boone County, the City of
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) – Missouri’s Cold Weather Rule restricting when utilities can shut off people’s gas or electricity is expanding under a new state law. Investor-owned utilities cannot shut off people’s services for nonpayment for 72 hours after temperatures reach below freezing during the day from November 1 to March 31. Those shutoffs were before
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Columbia Police Department continues to feel the strain of staffing shortages that have resulted in gaps in the department in crisis intervention-trained officers. On Thursday, CPD command staff began a two-day “in-town retreat” to discuss to address staffing needs. Schlude told a crowd at Tuesday’s “Let’s Talk Local” event that the
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) – Gov. Mike Kehoe said the state will spend more than $15 million to cover some food programs as the federal government shutdown continues. Kehoe said in a news release on Wednesday that he would redirect money toward two programs aimed to help feed people in the state. The state plans to
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) It’s not uncommon to walk into an emergency department waiting room full of people, so many that some have to sit on the floor. Patients waiting hours in emergency departments is becoming a more familiar story across the nation. Two hours. Three hours. Five hours. Six hours. Twelve hours. This is how
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) State and local leaders are warning the public about rising road deaths in Missouri for 2025. Officials say 745 people have lost their lives on state roads this year, which is more than two deaths on average per day. The Missouri Department of Transportation, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Cole County
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A tree damaged a utility pole in gusty winds Wednesday, cutting off power to nearly 400 Ameren Missouri customers in the Sturgeon area. The Ameren Missouri outage map showed 394 meters down, starting at about 8:30 a.m. Power was restored to most by about 10:30 a.m.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Leila Willmore says she was first alerted to AI-generated content of her son at the end of September. Since then, things have only continued to escalate. “They were seeing Zachary in articles coming to their Facebook, like popping up one after the other,” Willmore said. “When I would try to look up
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Two 74-year-old people from Sturgeon had minor injuries after their vehicle hit a tractor-trailer near Centralia, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The report says the crash occurred on Route CC, west of Dinwiddie School Road. The report says the pair’s vehicle – a 2020 Chevrolet Equinox
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A man who was accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at the entrance of the Boone County Courthouse in January pleaded guilty to two felonies on Tuesday. Nicholas Walters, 39, of Columbia, pleaded guilty to arson and resisting arrest. He was originally charged with first-degree assault, first-degree arson, armed criminal action, resisting
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A dead man was found by police on Monday after he fell out of a hunting tree stand, according to information provided by the Columbia Police Department. CPD spokesman Colin Imhoff wrote in an email to ABC 17 News that the man was found in a wooded area east of Grace Lane
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A man accused of killing a Columbia man after setting him on fire over the summer was indicted by a Boone County grand jury on Friday. Brandon Butchkoski, 47, of Columbia is charged with first-degree arson resulting in death, second-degree felony murder, first-degree arson and drug possession. He is being held at
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Editor’s note: The lede of this story was corrected to reflect the crash occurred in 2024. COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) An 18-year-old man from Macon pleaded guilty Monday to four counts, including manslaughter, in a 2024 crash in southern Columbia. Ty Frey pleaded guilty in Boone County before Judge Ben Miller to first-degree involuntary manslaughter, careless
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As Mid-Missouri begins cooling to fall temperatures, the Boone County Fire Protection District is reminding residents to follow home heating safety precautions before using space heaters or fireplaces.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Columbia Police Department announced in a Friday night social media post that officers arrested a man and a youth accused of robbing someone at gunpoint. Police wrote Jordan Hunt, 19, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree robbery, armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and stealing. Officers also arrested a
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Missouri Attorney General’s Office told ABC 17 News it had to dismiss its case against Fear Fest owner and operator Bill Schnell after being unable to locate him. Columbia’s Fear Fest Haunted House made an official announcement on Halloween 2024 stating that it would not be opening for the season and that refunds
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A registered sex offender in Hallsville who was arrested on Thursday was charged with two felonies. Eric Gathings, 51, was charged on Friday with failure to register as a sex offender and residing too close to a school. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A court date has
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