State Historical Society of Missouri Executive Director Gary Kremer will retire from his position in 2025 after more than 21 years with the Society.
Kremer announced his retirement plans at the recent annual meeting of the State Historical Society of Missouri, according to a news release. During his tenure, Kremer led the organization through a significant growth in services and facilities to benefit Missourians across the state.
“Gary Kremer has become the unofficial State Historian to many Missourians over the last two decades,” former Missouri Senator and SMHS president Roy Blunt said in the release. “Among the Society’s greatest achievements during Gary’s extraordinary leadership was securing $35 million in state bond funds for the construction of a new headquarters building that opened in 2019.”
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Also under Kremer’s leadership, SMHS established new research centers in Cape Girardeau and Springfield, expanding the society’s network to six centers across the state.
Kremer also served on the Missouri Bicentennial Commission in 2021, which oversaw the planning of statewide bicentennial activities.
The State Historical Society of Missouri Board of Trustees will immediately begin a search for a new executive director, who will begin duties when Kremer retires next fall, the news release said.
Two Affinia Healthcare employees were recognized for their work in community health during the recent Community Health Workers Association of Missouri conference.
Candace Henderson, Affinia’s director of community health, received the organization’s Individual and Community Capacity Building Award after being nominated in eight categories. Henderson leads a team of community health workers who connect residents with health screenings and other services.
Naila Hudson, a community health worker with Affinia, received the Individual and Community Assessment Award. Her duties include coordinating mobile mammography events, conducting health screenings and assisting with the organization’s food pantry.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Jackson County grand jury indicted a man in connection with a 2024 hit-and-run that left one mad dead.
Carleno Gonzales has been indicted for first-degree involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault and leaving the scene of an accident, according to an indictment filed Thursday.
These are the same charges Jackson County prosecutors filed against Gonzales in December 2025.
The crash occurred on Nov. 19, 2024, near the intersection of U.S. Highway 71 and East 59th Street.
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Gonzales, driving a Chevrolet Cruze, fled the scene on foot after he struck a Chrysler 200, driven by Terrell Williams, that was stopped at a traffic light.
Witnesses at the scene saw the Cruze “driving erratically at a high rate of speed” before the crash, per court documents.
Williams died from the injuries he sustained in the collision. Court documents said a passenger in Gonzales’ vehicle was seriously injured.
Gonzales is currently in custody at the Jackson County Detention Center on a $150,000 cash-only bond.
He is set for an arraignment at 9 a.m. on June 16.
