PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Some state and local governments are starting to put a priority on funding for foster parents of disabled children, but it’s often still seen as not enough.

The reimbursements are considered crucial because the high costs of caring for such children makes it less likely they’ll ever be adopted. Philadelphia, Missouri and Oklahoma are among places giving payments to foster parents of disabled children a closer look.

Philadelphia recently put a priority on funding for once-stagnant reimbursement rates.

Federal dollars fund more than half of the child welfare spending in Missouri, which raised foster care reimbursements in recent years. Meanwhile, Oklahoma announced in July a reduction in payments for foster and adoptive families by 5 percent, or a dollar a day.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Business, civic and state leaders says Kansas needs to quickly address a severe shortage of employees with the skills needed to fill jobs in technical industries.

The latest available data from the Kansas Department of Labor says the state had 45,000 job vacancies in 2016 — more than the entire population of Hutchinson.

The Wichita Eagle spoke to dozens of leaders who said companies such as Spirit AeroSystems or Textron Aviation might have to consider moving jobs elsewhere if more skilled workers can’t be found.

Spirit AeroSystems vice president Justin Welner says 40 percent of the more than 10,000 workers in Wichita will be eligible to retire in five years.

The officials are pushing the state to consider several steps, including more technical education and better-targeted tax incentives.

HOUSTON, Mo. (AP) — A fourth person has been charged in the death of a teenager whose burned body was found in southern Missouri.

Twenty-five-year-old James Grigsby, of Houston, Missouri, was charged Monday with abandonment of a corpse and tampering with evidence in the death of 17-year-old Joseph Steinfeld. Grigsby is being held without bond. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

Two women and 18-year-old Andrew Vrba were charged earlier with first-degree murder and other charges. Investigators found burned human remains last week in a burn pile near the mobile home of one of the women and in a bag inside a chicken coop.

The women told authorities that Vrba gouged out Steinfeld’s eyes, stabbed him in his genitals and bragged about the killing. Steinfeld’s family had reported him missing.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bass Pro Shops’ roughly $4 billion acquisition of rival outdoor retailer Cabela’s is complete, but the small western Nebraska town that has been home to Cabela’s is still wondering about its future.

Monday’s closing announcement didn’t address how many of the roughly 2,000 Cabela’s jobs will remain in Sidney, Nebraska.

Bass Pro has said it expects to keep some operations in Sidney, but redundant headquarters jobs will likely be consolidated in Bass Pro’s hometown of Springfield, Missouri.

The uncertainty about Cabela’s future in Sidney has hurt business and slowed down the local real estate market in the town of fewer than 7,000. But many residents remain optimistic. The city endured the loss of roughly 2,000 jobs once before when the Sioux Army Depot closed in 1967.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A man is in custody after allegedly breaking into the home of a rookie St. Louis police officer and shooting at him before leading police on a chase.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 30-year-old Sallie Bradford faces several charges following the incident early Saturday.

The newspaper reports that the officer had just returned home and found a man inside the home, holding a belt that contained the officer’s duty weapon. The suspect allegedly pulled out the gun and shot at the officer, and the officer fired back with his personal weapon, but no one was hit.

The suspect ran to his car and took off. Police pursued the car for about four miles before the suspect’s car crashed into a tree. Police used a stun gun to subdue him.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Police say a 2-year-old boy has accidentally killed his father while playing with a gun in St. Louis.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that police say the toddler shot 27-year-old Darrion Noble in the neck Saturday afternoon. The shooting happened while the boy was handling the firearm in a bed where his father was sleeping. Noble died at the scene.

It’s unclear who the gun belonged to or how the child found it. Police released no other details of the shooting.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Ameren Missouri has announced plans to add enough solar and wind electricity to power 214,000 homes.

The St. Louis-based subsidiary of Ameren Corp. said Monday that adding at least 700 megawatts of wind power would cost about $1 billion and take until 2020. Ameren says improving technology and renewable energy initiatives with large customers could boost the wind investment higher. The statement says the new wind facilities would be located in Missouri and neighboring states, but provided no other details.

Adding 100 megawatts of solar power is expected to occur over 10 years, but no costs estimates are available. One solar facility at St. Louis Lambert International Airport is slated to be completed next year.

Ameren is working to reduce its carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050 from 2005 levels.

SLOAN, Iowa (AP) — The Winnebago Tribe is hoping to reclaim land in Iowa that was once part of its reservation in northeast Nebraska, but local hunters are concerned they might lose access.

The Sioux City Journal reports the 1,643 acres (6648990.98 sq. meters) of land is owned by the federal government and attracts hundreds of hunters each year.

The land, which is near the tribe’s WinnaVegas Casino, was part of the Winnebago reservation when it was created in 1865. But the eastern border of the reservation was the Missouri River, which changed course over the years.

U.S. Rep. Steve King introduced a bill earlier this month to transfer the land to the Bureau of Indian Affairs where it would be held in trust for the tribe.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri prisons have been ordered to eliminate smoking after an asthmatic inmate serving a life sentence for two murders won a court judgment.

The Kansas City Star reportsMissouri has been ordered to go smoke-free by April 1 because of the lawsuit Ecclesiastical Denzel Washington filed.

Missouri already bans smoking inside prison buildings, but it allows it in designated areas outside. The evidence at trial showed that inmates are commonly written up for smoking in their cells.

Attorney Michael Foster, who helped represent Washington, says the ruling may save Missouri taxpayers money because of the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses for the state’s more than 30,000 inmates.

State officials haven’t announced their plan to eliminate smoking.