Lucy Valeski

By mid-2025, a Columbia motorist will drive down a road, pass a camera and — snap! — a camera will capture a photo of that driver’s license plate, its location and details about the car.The motorist keeps driving, but that photo is entered into a database. If the information matches a suspected vehicle from a list created by the Columbia Police Department, local law enforcement will be alerted in seconds.
×

This page requires Javascript.

Javascr...

It’s 5 p.m., and people are streaming out of the Boone County Courthouse into the dark November evening. But some employees from the Boone County circuit clerk’s office stick behind, just as they have for almost two years.Missourians passed a constitutional amendment legalizing adult use of recreational marijuana during the midterm elections in November 2022. The amendment mandated that local courts expunge nonviolent marijuana charges, and the constitutional amendment went into effect Dec. 8, 2...

As the city evaluates the best way to prepare law enforcement for tense situations on the job, Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude said her department’s training will move in-house and be directed by Lincoln University’s Law Enforcement Training Academy.It’s a change aimed at giving the department more oversight in the training process and improving responses to 911 calls and traffic stops that disproportionately affects motorists of color, which the department has faced criticism about in recent...

Senior citizens will most likely not have to pass a “means test” to qualify for a freeze on their property taxes, Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick said Thursday.Earlier this month, county voters overwhelmingly passed an initiative to shield seniors from tax rate hikes on their primary residence. After approval, the Boone County Commission started drafting its version of the policy.
×

This page requires Javascript.

Javascript is r...

The estimated cost for a long-awaited update to the McBaine Water Treatment Plant has ballooned to $35.3 million, a $10 million increase over previous estimates.City officials blamed the water treatment cost increases on higher than expected bids from the initial project balance, according to a council memo. As recently as January, city officials had said the estimated cost of the project was $25 million, according to previous Missourian reporting. 
×

This page re...

Jacob Luebbert is a staff photographer for the Columbia Missourian. He is a graduate student at the University of Missouri, studying photojournalism.
You can reach him at jdlfr5@umsystem.edu, in the newsroom at 573-882-5700, or online at www.jacobluebbert.com.

Jacob Luebbert is a staff photographer for the Columbia Missourian. He is a graduate student at the University of Missouri, studying photojournalism.

You can reach him at jdlfr5@umsystem.edu, in the newsroom at 573-882-5700, or online at...