News

A suspended fire chief has pleaded guilty to child sex crimes in Saline County, and has been sentenced to 13 years in prison. Levi Dennis was charged with 14 counts of child exploitation as well as charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy, possession of child porn, and invasion of privacy. He pleaded guilty to three charges

According to the CDC, natural mosquito repellent isn’t the best option of trying to keep mosquitoes away. While they may smell nicer than synthetic chemicals, researchers say that they don’t last nearly as long. Some reports say that some natural mosquito repellent will last only an hour compared to competitors at eight hours. Researchers say

So far, this spring has been a quiet severe weather season in Mid-Missouri. And that is probably a good thing as the area has few storm shelters. Since the 2011 Joplin tornado, the community has built more than 20 safe rooms built to FEMA standards in Joplin, Webb City and Jasper County. The Joplin school

A five-year-old child was struck by a car in Gasconade County Wednesday . The highway patrol crash report said the boy was riding his bike and pulled out in front of the car around 6:30 p.m. He was flown to a St. Louis hospital with serious injuries

ABC 17 News received several calls from viewers Wednesday night, asking about the status of embattled Osage County Sheriff Michael Dixon. The viewers cited resignation rumors. ABC 17 News reached out to Sheriff Dixon about the claims. He said he has not resigned. The presiding commissioner also said Dixon is still sheriff, but commissioners haven’t

The most recent census numbers from the US Census Bureau show Columbia’s population ballooning by 10,068 residents since the 2010 census. That comes out to about a 9 percent increase, bringing its total estimated population to119,108 people. This speedy growth put it just behind Kansas City as the fastest growing city in Missouri. City leaders

A police chase ended in a car crash Tuesday afternoon in Jefferson City. Officers originally pulled over a silver GMC truck for license plate violations near Highway 50 and Eastland Drive just after 3 p.m. After discovering the driver and passenger both had felony warrants, the pickup drove off when another unit appeared. The suspects

ABC 17 News has another update about a Jefferson City parks worker who was hit by a truck earlier this week. Officials say doctors are still running tests, but the employee does not appear to have any broken bones. His leg was run over by a contractor on Monday who was delivering sod at Binder

UPDATE:The Pulaski County 911 Communications system is back up and running after an outage Tuesday night. The outage was apparently caused by a lightning strike. ORIGINAL STORY: According to Fort Leonard Wood, the Pulaski County 911 Communications system is experiencing some issues after an apparent lightning strike. Officials say only one 911 line is working

A sign in Columbia is warning drivers about a high crash area. Columbia police put up the sign at the intersection of Grindstone Parkway and Bearfield Road. ABC 17 News checked Columbia police dispatch. As of Tuesday , officers were called to nine wrecks at the intersection so far in 2016. ABC 17 News also

The I70 westbound on-ramp at Providence was reopened Wednesday morning. It was closed overnight so traffic could be switched to the new I-70 overpass at Garth Avenue. Last week, MoDOT slid the new Garth bridge into place-with the help of 15 bottles of dishwashing liquid. Crews are still putting in barrier curbs so there will

On Sunday, ABC 17 News showed you what Joplin has done to combat future tornadoes, but securing parts of Mid-Missouri, might not be so easy. ABC 17’s Lindsey Berning digs into what local communities and some schools are doing to protect your family and you in “Safe Room,” Wednesday, May 25 on ABC 17 News

Police in Mexico are searching for the person responsible for shooting at a home. Officers were called to the scene around midnight Tuesday in the 200 block of North Missouri Street. One home was damaged. As of Tuesday night , no witnesses have come forward and no arrests were made. The occupants of the house

The city will take a property owner to county court over an alleged lack of roof repairs throughout 2015. The case against property owner Ngoc Nguyen, 54, was moved from the city’s municipal court to the county’s 13th Judicial Circuit on Monday. Former Columbia city prosecutor Steve Richey filed the eight misdemeanor charges in December

The Douglass Bulldogs Baseball League is still needing boys and girls ages 5-10 to join their league. The league is geared at teaching kids basic baseball skills in a fun, non competitive environment. The league’s games will begin the week of June 6. Cost per child is $32. Volunteer coaches and umpires are needed, also

Jefferson City police will be on the lookout this week for drivers who don’t yield to emergency vehicles. ABC 17 news first brought the public safety alert to you in a 2015 special report. ABC 17 News crews showed you some of the dangers of failure to yield during our ride-along with firefighters in Columbia.

Jumping in a lake is a great way to cool off in the summer…but what’s in the water with you? It could be an unhealthy level of E. coli. Weather permitting, Columbia’s Public Health and Human Services Department will begin analyzing the water for the bacteria next week. They plan to test all the local

Fulton residents are now able to get more medical treatment in town. SSM Health opened a new walk-in clinic Tuesday that will be open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The clinic will be staffed by Dr. Kimetha Fairchild, the family practitioner as well a nurse practitioner. She said she already knows the

A Cole County judge ruled in favor of the city of Jefferson in its case against a downtown property owner. The city filed a lawsuit against Barbara Buescher more than a year ago after multiple properties in the neighborhood of East Capitol Avenue were found to be in violation of city code. Judge Pat Joyce

Prosecutors have upgraded one of the charges against Jason Lage, a suspect in the 2014 murder of Zachary Dawson in Madison. Lage had been charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, and tampering with physical evidence; the murder charge was upgraded to first-degree murder on Tuesday. His bond has been set at $1 million, cash