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Starting in August, drivers in Missouri will pay higher fines for passing stopped school buses

By CNN

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KSHB) — Missouri drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses will soon face tougher penalties under a new state law aimed at improving student safety.

Last week, Gov. Mike Kehoe signed legislation increasing fines and penalties for stop-arm violations. The law takes effect Aug. 28, just as students across Missouri return to school.

The change comes months after sharing concerns from school transportation officials, bus drivers, parents, and the county prosecutor who said stronger consequences were needed to discourage dangerous driving around stopped school buses.

For the past year, I have highlighted stop-arm violations in Platte County of drivers illegally passing school buses while students were loading and unloading.

“It’s something that needs to be addressed, and I was lucky in the fact that your station picked this up and started running it,” said JT Thomas, transportation director for Platte County School District. “Without that, I don’t think any of this would have happened.”

After seeing the reporting, Representative Mike Jones filed legislation to strengthen Missouri’s stop arm law.

What’s changing?

Beginning Aug. 28:

The minimum fine for a first stop-arm violation will increase from about $130 to at least $500.
Each conviction will add five points to a driver’s license.
Repeat offenders face steeper penalties, including the possibility of felony charges if a child is injured.
In a statement to KSHB 41, Representative Mike Jones said, “I am pleased that Governor Kehoe has signed SB 1421 into law, strengthening penalties for drivers who illegally pass a stopped school bus while its stop arm is extended.

Every child deserves to be safe when getting on or off the school bus. This new law sends a clear message that reckless driving around school buses will not be tolerated. My hope is that these stronger penalties will deter dangerous behavior and help prevent needless tragedies. It’s unfortunate that legislation like this is necessary, but protecting our children must always come first.

This legislation would not have become law without the dedication and advocacy of many people. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to KSHB 41 Reporter Marlon Martinez, whose reporting brought much-needed attention to this issue, and to Platte County School District Director of Transportation J.T. Thomas, whose expertise and tireless efforts were instrumental throughout the process. Their commitment to student safety made this important achievement possible.

I am proud to have supported this legislation and will continue working to improve the safety of Missouri’s students and families.”

Thomas said the tougher penalties are a step in the right direction, but the real goal is changing driver behavior.

“Now we’re not at the top, but we’re certainly not at the bottom as we were. I think that the prosecutors, law enforcement, now have tools that can help solve this problem.

Thomas said he hopes the tougher penalties will encourage drivers to slow down, pay attention and stop when school bus stop arms are extended — helping prevent a tragedy before it happens.

“I don’t want to be talking to a news reporter because a child has been killed.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

A whisper from the rubble led to baby’s rescue after Colombia earthquake

By CNN
(CNN) — When the deadly 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Colombia on Monday, Brian Osorio Zuluaga ran out of his office in Cali and rushed home on his motorbike.The sight of a collapsed five-story residential building forced him to stop.“It was a large complex, covering an entire block,” Osorio told CNN.The quake was the strongest to hit Colombia in more than a decade and sent residents and neighbors of the building, La Torres del Limonar, fleeing into the street, “some in sleepwear or pajamas; some crying, others in shock,” Osorio said.He approached the rubble and began shouting into the wreckage for survivors, despite warnings about a possible gas leak.He suddenly asked those around him for silence. A faint sound rose out of the debris — barely a whisper.“Yes, I’m here. I’m with a baby,” a man’s voice replied.Osorio described how he and several others began moving debris with their hands to reach the pair. But a large concrete slab blocked their way.“On the first attempt, we couldn’t lift it,” he said. Then, “we all lifted together — one, two, three, up.”The slab was too heavy to toss aside, and Osorio was worried there could be more people trapped underneath. Some volunteers held it aloft as others cleared a path to the baby.“You can see the baby’s little head there — which, at the time, looked sort of purplish because he couldn’t breathe,” Osorio said. “Once we started removing the rubble, the baby began to… breathe, and his color started to come back.”Video of the remarkable rescue filmed by Osorio shows the tiny infant in a dusty bodysuit being carefully pulled out of the wreckage. A man, his arm bloodied, can be seen lying awkwardly on his side, still half-trapped under a concrete plank.Osorio said he was handed the baby, a boy, and gave him to a police officer, who took him to an ambulance. They then turned their attention to freeing the trapped man.In the rubble, Osorio said he saw clothes, shoes, and a stuffed animal covered in dust. He thought about the people who might still be trapped.“All those thoughts go through your mind,” he said.The bravery of everyone who rushed to help was what saved the lives of both man and baby.“Unity is strength, because no one person alone could have lifted that piece of rubble; it was so large and so heavy,” he said.“It’s better to act than to stand still,” Osorio added. “Every bit helps.”Rescue efforts enter third daySearch and rescue operations entered their third day early on Wednesday, as emergency responders raced to find more survivors after the powerful quake struck western Colombia, killing more than 200 people, according to a CNN count based on reports from officials.The quake struck at the heart of the country’s coffee-growing region and catapulted communities into a state of national disaster as world leaders offered aid and assistance.The European Union has mobilized its satellite service Copernicus and is providing funding to help the response, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.In Cali, a woman was pulled from under a mountain of rubble on Tuesday to cheers as firemen carried her out on a stretcher following a complex, multinational rescue operation.And in Pereira, a CNN team on the ground saw rescue workers and volunteers form a human chain to remove debris and help save those trapped from an apartment building.“There’s folks who have jumped in and you can see they’re wearing everything from athleisure wear to shorts, tennis shoes — they’re not prepared for this,” CNN’s senior national correspondent David Culver said from the site. “We have seen scenes like this scattered throughout Pereira. This is one of the hardest-hit areas.”But in the epicenter of Monday’s earthquake, Chocó, an indigenous leader told CNN that help has yet to reach the area, Colombia’s poorest region.Victor Chamapuro, leader of the Wounaan Indigenous Reserve “Buenavista” in Chocó’s Litoral del San Juan, said “all our houses are on the ground.”“Where are we going to sleep now? We have to be alert now, we’re sleeping outside,” he said.Chamapuro called on authorities to send food and medicine, saying one person in the community was injured.The “Buenavista” reserve can only be reached by boat on a five-hour journey from the port of Buenaventura, on Colombia’s Pacific coast.Video sent by Chamapuro from the reserve shows flattened buildings that appear to be built from timber and corrugated iron sheets. Others are still standing but with varying levels of damage.The earthquake is one of the first major challenges for Colombia’s new far-right President Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office only last week and has promised to strike hard at criminal groups and leftist militants in Colombia.De la Espriella on Tuesday announced economic relief measures for those affected by the quake, and financial support for people who have lost their homes to rent temporary housing.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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