The Republican-led Senate has confirmed Rex Tillerson as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state.

Senators voted 56-43 largely along party lines to approve Tillerson’s nomination to be the nation’s chief diplomat.

Most Senate Democrats opposed Tillerson’s nomination, angering Republicans who considered the former Exxon Mobil CEO to be highly qualified for the post.

Sen. Ben Cardin, the Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, says he feared Tillerson would be a “yes man” and would not be able to prevent Trump from pursuing a misguided foreign policy that leads the country “on a march of folly.”

Tillerson’s ties to Russia and his stand on sanctioning Moscow have also been a point of contention.

But Republicans had the numbers to push Tillerson’s nomination through. They got help from several Democrats who crossed party lines.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas is likely to use security measures such as metal detectors at Allen Fieldhouse and Memorial Stadium beginning in the fall.

The change comes as a law that requires Kansas universities to allow concealed handguns on campuses begins July 1. Guns can be banned in buildings where the universities provide other security, such as the metal detectors.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports details are not final but Kansas expects to ban guns from athletic events where more than 5,000 people are expected to attend.

Deputy athletics director Sean Lester says fans attending Jayhawk men’s basketball games will likely encounter wands and portable metal detectors before they enter. The number of entrances also might be reduced.

Similar measures are expected for football games at Memorial Stadium.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Results from a monthly survey of business supply managers suggest economic conditions continue to improve in nine Midwest and Plains states.

The Mid-America Business Conditions Index report released Wednesday says the overall economic index for the region rose to 54.7 in January from 53.1 in December. It’s the highest figure since February 2015 and the third monthly increase in a row.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the increases point to an improving regional manufacturing economy.

The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth in that factor. A score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

ST. JOHN, Kan. (AP) — The Sunflower Foundation has approved a statewide pilot program to help fund community-based strategies for addressing food access in rural Kansas.

The Hutchinson News reports the $120,000 pilot project called Project HERO — Healthy Eating: Rural Opportunities is planning to initially fund efforts in eight communities.

The 12-month pilot is allowing St. John to receive a $60,000 Sunflower grant to open a grocery store in the town of less than 1,300 people. Stafford County Economic Development Executive Director Carolyn Dunn says that after the town’s only grocery store closed almost one year ago, residents have had to drive 12 miles into Stafford to find the closest grocery.

GROW Hodgeman and the Harvey County Food and Farm Council are also receiving HERO grants.

CLINTON, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri-based utility says it will appeal a state judge’s award of more than $10 million to a worker who said he developed respiratory issues at one of the company’s sites.

A judge in west-central Missouri’s Henry County last week ruled in favor of James Philpott, concluding that Kansas City Power & Light was responsible for the man’s form of asthma.

Philpott had alleged that chemical exposures while he worked at KCP&L’s coal-fired Montrose Station plant in Clinton sickened him. Philpott’s attorneys argued that KCP&L failed to provide Philpott with respiratory protection and offered no formal training until 2013 about the hazards Philpott faced.

Circuit Judge William Hass awarded Philpott nearly $5.4 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Philpott’s wife was granted $300,000 in compensatory damages.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — Prosecutors say a Missouri man has been charged with fatally stabbing his wife after the couple’s children told their teachers what happened.

Forty-six-year-old Vicente Roldan-Marron, of Independence, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Yadira Gomez. Prosecutors have requested $500,000 bond. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

Court documents say a 9-year-old child told police that his mother informed his father she wanted him to move out when the couple argued Sunday after church. The boy later discovered his mother covered in blood.

Officers found her body the next day when the children talked to their teachers at school. Roldan-Marron told police that he didn’t remember what happened because he had blacked out after drinking and taking pills.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court says a recent constitutional amendment allows prosecutors to present more evidence in child sex abuse cases, regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred.

Supreme Court judges on Tuesday ruled past criminal allegations can be used in child sex abuse cases from December 2014 forward.

That’s when a constitutional amendment to allow that took effect.

A Missouri man accused of a child sex crime in 2013 said allegations of past crimes shouldn’t be used in his case. He argued the amendment shouldn’t apply retroactively.

But Supreme Court judges said the constitutional change deals with trials and their timing, not when alleged abuse occurred.

Judges in their 6-0 ruling didn’t weigh in on how the plaintiff Kendrick Tipler’s criminal trial should be handled.

DALLAS (AP) — The Boy Scouts of America says it will allow transgender children who identify as boys to enroll in its boys only programs.

The organization announced Monday that it had made the decision to base enrollment in boys only programs on the gender a child or parent lists on the application to become a scout. The organization had previously held a policy that relied on the gender listed on a child’s birth certificate.

A spokeswoman for the organization says it made the decision based on states and communities changing how gender is defined.

A transgender child in Secaucus, New Jersey, was asked late last year to leave his Scout troop after parents and leaders found out he is transgender.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man with a long criminal record was sentenced to life in prison for a fatal traffic accident that occurred while he was fleeing police.

Sixty-three-year-old Sherman Norman Jenkins was sentenced Monday for first-degree murder in the February 2016 death of Mia Holden. Jenkins won’t be eligible for parole for 25 years.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2jQI49I ) Jenkins had 33 offenses dating back to 1972 in his criminal record.

Holden, the mother of six children, was killed when the stolen pickup truck Jenkins was driving hit a vehicle she was riding in as Jenkins was fleeing from police.

The police chase began when officers tried to stop the truck because its tail lights weren’t working.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dana Boente has been sworn in as acting attorney general after Donald Trump fired Sally Yates for refusing to enforce his travel ban.

White House spokesman Michael Short says Boente was sworn in around 9 p.m. Monday.

The hastily arranged ceremony came after Trump swiftly fired Boente’s predecessor for instructing Justice Department lawyers to stop defending Trump’s travel and refugee ban.

Reporters and news photographers were not invited to witness the ceremony.

The White House says in a statement that Yates had “betrayed the Department of Justice” by refusing to enforce Trump’s order.

Boente has been serving as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

He’s expected to serve until Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s pick for the position, is confirmed by the Senate.