(Update) INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City police officer is hospitalized after being shot in a confrontation while responding to a burglary call.

Independence Police Capt. Carl Perry said the officer was in critical condition and undergoing surgery Wednesday afternoon.

Two suspects are in custody.

Perry says officers were called to an Independence home Wednesday morning where a burglary was in progress. He says the suspects fled the house when officers arrived and fired at officers. Police returned fire and one officer was shot.

The suspects then fled in a vehicle, with police in pursuit. The suspects’ vehicle became disabled after a short chase and they were taken into custody.

Perry declined to release any more details.
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INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City police office is hospitalized after being injured in a confrontation after short car chase.

Independence Police Chief Brad Halsey told The Kansas City Star the officer was in surgery Wednesday afternoon after being injured.

Police had not released details about the officer’s injuries or what led to them. A police spokesman did not return calls or emails from The Associated Press.

Kansas City-area media reported the office was either shot or hit by a car in Independence Wednesday morning and suspects were taken into custody.

The confrontation apparently began with a car chase but details beyond that were not immediately released.

DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling more than 570,000 vehicles in North America and Europe to fix separate problems that can cause engine fires and doors to fly open unexpectedly.

The recalls will hit the company’s bottom line in the first quarter of this year. Ford said in a Wednesday filing with securities regulators that the recalls will cut pretax earnings by $295 million.

The engine fire recall covers over 360,000 vehicles in North America and Europe. In North America it includes Escape SUVs from the 2014 model year, plus the 2014 and 2015 compact Fiesta ST, the 2013 and 2014 Fusion midsize car and the 2013 through 2015 Transit Connect small van. In Europe, the recall covers the 2010 through 2015 C-Max hybrid and Focus small car, and the 2013 through 2015 Transit Connect van. All the vehicles have 1.6-Liter four-cylinder turbocharged engines.

A lack of coolant circulation could cause the engine to overheat, causing a crack in the cylinder head, according to Ford. If that happens, pressurized oil can leak through the crack, and if it hits a hot surface, could cause and engine fire. The company says it has 29 reports of fires in the U.S. and Canada, but no injuries.

Owners can continue to drive the vehicles safely and park them in garages or other structures, spokeswoman Elizabeth Weigandt said. The company will mail customers instructions from the owner’s manual on how to check and refill coolant. Dealers also will check coolant levels for owners. If vehicles leak coolant or overheat, they should be taken to a dealer, Weigandt said.

If parts are available, dealers will install a coolant level sensor and a warning light on the dashboard telling owners if the coolant level is low, Weigandt said. She did not know if the company will fix coolant leaks, but said she would check.

The company also is adding 211,000 vehicles to a 2015 recall to replace faulty door latches. That recall covers the 2014 Fiesta and the 2013 and 2014 Fusion and Lincoln MKZ. The expansion brings the total from the 2015 recall to nearly 757,000.

Door latches have been a major problem for Ford vehicles during the past three years, resulting in investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and recalls of over 3 million vehicles.

The company recalled more than 2.3 million vehicles last fall because their door latches weren’t working properly. That recall included the 2012-2015 Ford Focus and the 2013-2015 Ford Escape and C-Max.

In May 2014, Ford recalled 692,700 Escape SUVs from the 2013-2014 model years because their doors didn’t latch properly.

In the latest recall a pawl in the door latch can break, either stopping the doors from closing or causing them to open while the cars are being driven. The company says it’s unaware of any crashes or injuries involving the vehicles added to the 2015 recall.

Last year door latch recalls cost the company $640 million.

The cost of the latest recall is included in Ford’s most recent earnings guidance, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s Republican-led House has endorsed a bill to repeal the state’s “prevailing wage” requirements for public construction projects.

The 93-60 vote Tuesday is part of a Republican push to revamp the state’s labor laws by limiting union powers.

Missouri law currently requires governmental entities such as cities and school districts to pay wages above the state’s basic minimum wage for construction and maintenance projects.

Those “prevailing wages” are set for each construction trade on a county-by-county basis. They’re determined based on voluntary wage surveys submitted by contractors working in each county, but when no wages are reported the union rate for that trade is used.

A second House vote is needed to send the prevailing-wage repeal to the Senate.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens says people should have the option of getting IDs that allow them to enter airports and military bases, but he says he first wants to see if the Trump administration will intervene.

Greitens told reporters Tuesday that he spoke with administration officials about the federal Real ID Act during a recent trip to Washington, D.C. He says the administration might act so Missouri doesn’t have to undo a state law that prohibits compliance with the law. Critics cite privacy concerns.

If nothing is done, Missourians next year won’t be able to use driver’s licenses to board planes or visit some federal facilities.

A pending Senate bill would give Missourians the option to get compliant or noncompliant IDs.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A new Missouri law will change the standard for vetting expert witnesses in jury trials.

Republican. Gov. Eric Greitens signed the legislation Tuesday at a Jefferson City trucking company. He’s touting it as a way to boost the economy by improving the legal climate for businesses.

The new law will set a different standard for judges to gauge the quality of expert witnesses, requiring their testimony to be based on “sufficient facts” and “reliable principles” that are applied reliably to cases.

Supporters say the change will ensure experts are truly qualified. Opponents say it will make it more expensive to go to court by requiring more time from attorneys to get expert witnesses.

The Republican-led Legislature last year passed a similar bill that was vetoed by the former Democratic governor.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers have voted to expand the state’s Medicaid health care program to more low-income individuals.

The bill passed 25-13 in a first-round Senate vote Monday. It will see a final vote Tuesday. If approved, it would then go to conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

The House passed the measure last month after expansion supporters tried unsuccessfully for four years to get a floor debate and vote.

Opponents in the Statehouse have largely relied on cost and uncertainty over what Congress will do to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act as reasons not to expand.

But supporters say congressional Republicans’ failure to vote on their health care bill last week is more reason to expand. They contend expansion would be an economic boon to the state.

Brownback has stopped short of saying that he would veto the bill.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has let stand the Kansas death sentence of a man convicted of killing a college student more than two decades ago.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review 61-year-old Gary Kleypas’ case.

Kleypas was the first person condemned in Kansas after it reinstated the death penalty in 1994. Kansas hasn’t executed anyone in more than 50 years.

Kleypas’ case now returns to Kansas courts for more appeals related to his conviction of the 1996 rape and stabbing death of 20-year-old Pittsburg State University student Carrie Williams.

Kansas’ Supreme Court overturned Kleypas’ death sentence in 2001, but a jury restored it in 2008.

At the time of Williams’ death, Kleypas was on parole from a 1977 Missouri murder conviction.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nissan is recalling more than 56,000 cars because of power steering hoses that may leak fluid and potentially lead to fires.

Nissan North America says the recall affects the 2013-2014 Murano vehicles. It says the problem stems from the power steering hose clamp, which may not adequately secure the hose. That could allow the hose to detach and leak power steering fluid. That could lead to a fire If it leaks onto a hot engine or exhaust pipes, the company said.

Nissan says dealers will install a new power steering high pressure hose kit, free of charge. Car owners can contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261 or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 or visit www.safercar.gov.

WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. (AP) — The chess team at Webster University in suburban St. Louis has added is a national champion — again.

The Webster Groves, Missouri-based university team won its fifth straight national championship this weekend during the President’s Cup collegiate chess tournament in New York. St. Louis University finished third, behind Webster and Texas Tech.

Webster University coach Susan Polgar says the competition on Saturday lasted nearly 13 hours, underscoring the physical and mental toughness needed to compete.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — As Kansas City deals with gray areas in herbal supplements and regulated pharmaceutical medication, the number of shops that sells hemp oil is beginning to rise in the metro area.

The Kansas City Star reports the shops sell the product known as cannabidiol, which derives from the cannabis plant most know as marijuana. Those who sell cannabidiol call their product hemp because the oil comes from plants with little to no THC, the chemical responsible for the high that recreational users want.

Despite legal risks involving medical marijuana dispensaries, many shops in downtown Kansas City are open and upfront about their hemp products.

Missouri legalized low-THC hemp oil for helping treat children’s seizures in 2014, but open dispensary stores for hemp oil are not legal in Kansas or Missouri.