The CoMoBUZ Insider Briefing

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike take a look at a City of Columbia report on violence prevention that identifies a gap between “prevention” and “intervention;” reports first-responder traffic on police scanners will soon be encrypted as Boone County moves to a new 800-megahertz digital emergency communications syste...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike reports on a Boone County Circuit Judge’s decision to grant a temporary restraining order to the PulsePoint cardiology clinic that bars Boone Health from interfering in its operations while a legal battle over non-compete provisions moves forward; Boone Health’s choice of Ardent Heal...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike reports on the sale of properties off Broadway near Providence Rd. at the west entrance of downtown Columbia and the possible demolition of the Katy Station to make room for a student housing complex; the Columbia city council’s discussion about buying home security systems for city...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike reviews the police and fire spending in the city of Columbia’s fiscal year 2027 budget to set the baseline for future year contributions from the general fund as the city begins to collect revenues from it’s new public safety sales tax; reports on a discussion from this week’s city c...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike weighs in on the erupting phenomenon of AI videos on social media mocking Mayor Barbara Buffaloe in Columbia; reports on Boone Health’s disappointing year to date financials; and has an update on the city of Columbia’s short term rental ordinances.

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike reports on the downtown Community Improvement District’s request to the Columbia city council to consider an “urban camping” ordinance to help manage homeless residents in the downtown area; has an update on how Boone County distributed more than $12 million from its children’s servi...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike has more on the Boone Health lawsuit against two of its former cardiologists who have opened a clinic in Columbia; reports on another dustup between MU President Mun Choi and the city council over policing downtown Columbia, and has an update on the first month of operations at Colum...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike covers the new Boone Health lawsuit against two of its former cardiologists who have opened a clinic in Columbia; reviews the Aug. 4 election results;  and reports on another dustup between MU President Mun Choi and the city council over policing downtown Columbia.

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike reviews the Aug. 4 election in Columbia, which includes the Proposition 1 sales tax increase, a race for the Ward 4 seat on the city council and a Democrat primary for associate circuit judge; has an update on a hearing coming Monday in the Stephanie Smarr court case, which is being...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike tells you why voters passing the City of Columbia’s Proposition 1 on the Aug. 4 ballot may not be such a bad thing; has updates on more than $13 million in utility rate increases; and explains what’s behind Columbia’s new strategic plan on homelessness.

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike takes a hard look at the City of Columbia’s Proposition 1 on the Aug. 4 ballot that asks residents to pony up an additional one cent sales tax to fund police and fire services; has an early review of the city’s FY 2027 budget; and has the latest on the Downtown Community Improvement...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike takes a look at the upcoming election on Aug. 4 and the impact it will have on Columbia. An open seat from the fourth ward gets filled and will surely change the dynamics of the city council. And the fate of a proposed one-cent sales tax increase to fund public safety will shape the...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike takes a look at how Columbia’s renewable-energy policy is running up against the harder reality of an electric utility that has to solve issues with capacity, reliability and cost; reviews the Goldwater Institute’s lawsuit against the City of Columbia over the city’s revenue guarante...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike takes a look at how the City of Columbia spent a $3.2 million more to purchase energy from renewable sources than it would have had to pay just buying from the market, shares news of a massive new hi-rise student housing complex planned near the MU campus, has an update on the I-70 w...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike shares some opinion about the city of Columbia’s failure to engage with the public before walking it into the need for a one-cent sales tax increase, explains Amendment 5, the proposal to phase out the state income tax, and reviews the Columbia Police Department’s newly-issued 2025 r...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike takes a long look at the City of Columbia’s financial condition and how recent spending growth, utility indecision, public safety needs, pension obligations and management decisions have converged into a tax proposal and utility rate increases that are reshaping the cost of living in...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike explains the dustup between Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon and Secretary of State Denny Hoskins over Missouri’s newly-drawn congressional maps and the Aug. 4 primary election, Columbia utility advisors expressing concern about the quality of the city of Columbia’s forecasts for up...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike explains the threat of a lawsuit against the City of Columbia over the constitutionality of its revenue guarantees to airlines, takes a look at the city’s planned $2.57 million North Village Park, bring you up-to-date on I-70 construction, discusses the big rate increases the city ha...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike explains the Columbia city council’s two-week delay on a vote to place a sales tax increase on the August ballot; has an update on Boone Health’s new cardiology clinic, has the latest details on Columbia Public Schools’ lawsuit over Boone County charter schools, explains the city cou...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike gets to the bottom of the story about the break-up between Boone Health and the Missouri Heart Center, has an update on Columbia Public Schools lawsuit to stop public charter schools in Boone County, the latest on the demolition of the Providence Rd. bridge over I-70, and a looming c...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Mike discusses the city of Columbia’s use of revenue guarantees to airlines at Columbia Regional Airport, the city’s planned new one-cent sales tax for public safety, façade panels falling off a downtown student high rise, the electric utility trying to recover costs related to power purc...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week, Columbia Regional Airport is growing much faster than expected, and that’s forcing city leaders to confront new costs, new staffing demands and bigger infrastructure demands. Mike talked with airport Manager Mike Parks after a city council work session to discuss the airport. Also this we...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week it's another look at the break up at Boone Health between the hospital and its cardiologists with new documents and details, a review of the race for the Ward 5 seat on the Columbia city council and a conversation with the winning candidate, Christina Hartman, Boone County returning $...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week it's an analysis of the break up at Boone Health between the hospital and its cardiologists, a final look at the race for the Ward 5 seat on the Columbia city council, the Columbia Public School's win in the long-running Wayne Sells/Rock Bridge naming rights lawsuit, a City of Co...

Mike's quick, weekly no-nonsense look at civic affairs in Columbia and Boone County, Missouri. This week it's an update on the Ward 5 Columbia City Council election, including clips from interviews with both candidates, Boone County's proposed new building code changes, the lawsuit brought against Boone County by a former court marshal, and Jim Windsor's argument that the city...