News

Shatana Harris was born and raised in Columbia. As a mother of four, her priority is to keep her family safe. She’s familiar with the city and familiar with its crime. She said she believes that crime is often committed by children and teenagers who have nothing else to do. “Give the kids something to

Shoppers in Missouri continue to take advantage of the tax-free weekend. Between Friday and Sunday, consumers in 12 states get a break from sales tax on certain items. In Missouri, clothing under $100, computers under $3,500 and school supplies under $50 are tax free. Since school begins for many children in a few weeks, parents

Deputies found two trash bags with more than 100 “bricks” of marijuana inside a car pulled over Wednesday night. Fones German, Irwin Grado-Correna and Jesus Duran-Gamez are all suspected of second-degree drug trafficking when Lafayette County deputies and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers stopped two cars on Interstate 70 Wednesday night. Their probable cause statements

Authorities are investigating reports of shots fired Friday night in Columbia. Officers responded to the call on Worley Street just after 9 p.m. Investigators tell ABC 17 News they found at least one shell casing at the scene. Police searched the sidewalks along Worley for several blocks, including the parking lot of Calvary Baptist Church.

The Republican debate on FOX News Thursday night, drew a record 24 million viewers, according to Nielsen. University of Missouri professor of political communications Dr. Mitchell McKinney is one of the millions who watched the debate. As our guest on “this Week,” ABC 17’s Joey Parker started the conversation with the scholar of presidential debates

A typical August weather pattern is setting up this weekend which means a return to hot, sticky days, warm nights and storm chances. Clouds will drift through the area Saturday morning but skies will become mostly sunny during the afternoon with high temperatures reaching the lower 90s. The humidity will make it feel like 100

Fire officials in Osage Beach have confirmed the deaths of four children in a fire Tuesday night. Thursday morning the state fire marshal’s office said it appeared the fire started right outside the door where the children were staying, but the exact cause will never be known because the area was so damaged. The fire

Missouri basketball released its 2015 non-conference schedule Friday, headlined by four contests against 2014 NCAA tournament teams. Missouri will face Arizona and Xavier on the road while hosting N.C. State and Wofford. Mizzou’s exhibition opener is Friday, Nov. 6 against Missouri Western. The regular season opener is one week later (Nov. 13). Kim Anderson’s team

Linebacker Aldon Smith has been released by the San Francisco 49ers after his latest arrest. The team announced the move Friday, hours after Smith was let out of jail. “It’s a sad day,” 49ers coach Jim Tomsula said. “This is a day that doesn’t have anything to do about football.” Smith was arrested Thursday night,

Emergency officials in Cole County have confirmed 911 services are restored after a temporary outage Friday. Services were dropped after technical issues Friday for residents in St. Thomas, about 30 minutes south of Jefferson City. The outage was first reported around 10:30 a.m., affecting about 229 phones. It was restored shortly after 1:30 Friday afternoon.

This weekend, the state sales tax will not be charged on certain back-to-school items including classroom supplies, clothes and a few electronics. The special holiday exemption begins this Friday and runs until Sunday. Some cities and counties have opted out of the holiday, including Columbia and Jefferson City. That means the local city and county

Authorities say a child is recovering after getting hit by a car in eastern Columbia. The incident happened Thursday night around 7:30 on Volunteer Drive between Richland and St. Charles roads. Columbia Police Officers tell ABC 17 News a child, between the ages of 4 and 5, was riding their bike, when they darted out

Police are still searching for those involved in a single-car crash Friday morning in west Columbia. Columbia Police Officer Scott Lenger said the black Mazda, heading west on Broadway, ran off Wales Drive, the small section of road where Scott Boulevard and West Broadway meet. The car hit a sign warning of the curve around

Boone County commissioners have a decision to make: whether or not to relocate the Desert Storm War memorial at the Boone County Courthouse plaza because of a religious symbol. The latest talk about the symbol started after a local law firm wrote a legal opinion about it last month, stating that the Ichthus symbol, more

Keri Donoho walks her children to Mill Creek School almost every day. And she said she worries almost every day about the crosswalk they use. “It’s dangerous for our kids, it’s dangerous for our crossing guard,” she said. “Just watching her trying to get people stopped; every time I’m thinking this is not safe, this

ABC 17 News learned more details about Wednesday night’s motorcycle chase in central Columbia. On Thursday officers confirmed the suspect asked to borrow the victims’s scooter outside the McDonald’s on the Business Loop, before driving away. When he failed to come back, the man called police. He wrecked a few blocks away. Investigators claim the

A candlelight vigil is planned for a 13-year-old girl who was killed by a wrong-way driver over the weekend northeast of Jefferson City. The accident killed Meggan Fowler and two other teens, along with the other driver on Highway 54 in Holts Summit Saturday night. The crash happened just a few minutes before midnight about

After spending $2,300 on a new refrigerator from Sears, Gale Burch ofMontgomery City, said it broke down. That was the beginning of a weekslong repair process consisting of phone calls, emails and more than six visits from a technician. “So, from June 8 to the 23rd, they expected a family of six to do without

A St. Joseph murder suspect is in jail Thursday morning after he turned himself in to Columbia police Wednesday night. According to court documents ABC 17 News obtained, Charles Coats, Jr. is accused of shooting a man in St. Joseph on August 1st. The documents say Coats and the victim were in a verbal argument

More than three weeks after alerting MU students and the public about a possible mumps outbreak, now the number of confirmed reports has jumped to nine, according to the Columbia Boone County Health Department. The agency has four other suspected cases, and employees are waiting on lab results for several other patients. They first alerted