COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Some Columbia City Council members are responding to University of Missouri System President Mun Choi’s push for the city to better address crime. Councilwomen from wards 1, 2 and 3 sent a joint letter to Choi on Tuesday, outlining the current action plans the city has taken to address the issue of
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EDITOR’S NOTE: AI was used to research the background for this story. COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Seven businesses have signed up for Columbia Police to enforce trespassing and parking rules while they’re closed — four of them since Friday. University of Missouri and Columbia city leaders are asking downtown businesses to sign a form that would
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The issue of violent crime is again dominating public conversation in Columbia this fall. A Stephens College student from Columbia was killed last month as a random bystander in a shooting. The suspected killer used a handgun and allegedly fired 11 shots at innocent people. Since then, University of Missouri President Mun Choi has called
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude called the number of legal guns being carried downtown “shocking” in her statement to Columbia city leaders at Monday night’s council meeting. “Two of my assistant chiefs worked downtown over the weekend, and the remark that they made to me after the first night was they were
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe told ABC 17 News that she is no longer putting together a task force that addresses downtown crime. She announced the task force after it was requested by University of Missouri System President Mun Choi after a Stephens College student, Aiyanna Williams, was shot and killed in downtown
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The City of Columbia is planning to take a second look at its stormwater management plan’s language. It comes after the Department of Natural Resources set a Nov. 15 deadline for the city to submit new draft ordinance language. DNR sent a letter to Mayor Barbara Buffaloe and Boone County Commissioner Kip
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is not satisfied with the revised stormwater management plan the City of Columbia submitted in August to reduce waste from homeless encampments entering public waters. In a letter Thursday to Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe and Boone County Commissioner Kip Kendrick, the department set a Nov. 15
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Auditing criminal cases arising from incidents downtown and adding county deputies and state troopers to patrol shifts are among the plans Columbia and University of Missouri leaders have for reducing crime. MU and the City of Columbia on Wednesday put out a list of actions they’re taking to make downtown safer after
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) State lawmakers are reacting to the outpouring response by local leaders and community organizations following a deadly downtown Columbia shooting over the University of Missouri’s Homecoming weekend. Columbia police responded to a shooting in the 800 block of East Broadway just before 2 a.m. Saturday. Police found three people shot; one woman,
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The City of Columbia Solid Waste Utility will host a customer input open house next week about the construction of its new recycling facility, according to a Tuesday press release. The meeting will be held 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7 at the Activity and Recreation Center at 1701 Est Ash Street,
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Columbia City Council members support the idea of the city taking a trip to the west. Columbia Police Department Asst. Chief Mark Fitzgerald told business owners during a meeting on Monday that CPD has been looking into the Lawrence, Kansas police department. “They seem to be several years down the road on
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A $14.3 million settlement with internet provider Brightspeed helped give the City of Columbia more flexibility in its 2026 fiscal budget. However, tough decisions remain over how to keep the budget balanced in the future. Brightspeed, which was previously CenturyLink, was sued by Columbia and Joplin in 2014 over unpaid license taxes and
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Columbia City Council unanimously approved its $608 million budget on Monday evening following months of planning and public hearings. However, some feel that the process of presenting the budget could be improved. A candidate from this past August’s Ward 2 council race, Ken Rice, raised concerns about the “lack of transparency”
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A years-long court case is over. Internet provider Brightspeed, which was previously CenturyLink, will pay the City of Columbia $14.3 million in a settlement over unpaid license taxes and fees, according to court documents. The settlement – which was obtained by ABC 17 News through a records request on Monday – was
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The Columbia City Council is set to vote on a $21,000 contract with TMT Consulting on Monday to provide six trauma informed and community mental health trainings across the city.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) East Columbia residents packed city hall on Thursday night to express concerns over a proposed subdivision known as “Ashford Place.” After more than two hours of public comments opposing the plan, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted to approve the project, sending it on to City Council for final approval. Troy Miller
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) After months of wage negotiations, the city of Columbia has reached a deal with local union LiUNA 955 to implement new pay adjustments. However, the union says it still has concerns about the agreement. The deal includes a 3.5% raise for the roughly 300 city workers LiUNA represents. All eligible members will
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) GoCOMO bus riders will be token-free for another year after the Columbia City Council approved another year of suspended bus fares at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Transportation operation costs that were adopted for fiscal year 2025 were over $7.8 million in the City of Columbia’s budget. Both the council memo and the
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The window for bids from companies to clear out homeless camps around the City of Columbia closed on Friday. Documents showed the city was looking for bids totaling fewer than $50,000. City spokesperson Sydney Olsen said the contractors would be on standby for when the city needs them. The contract would start
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The City of Columbia’s Office of Violence Prevention is considering adding two “community navigation liaisons” to help defuse problems on the city’s public transit. “What this program does is it puts individuals on the transit lines with the driver to de-escalate and to actually navigate folks to services so that they’re not,
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