LEBANON, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Department of Conservation says a beetle that is fatal to ash trees has spread to southwest Missouri.

The department says the emerald ash borer was recently found in Laclede County. It is the first time the insect was found in southwest Missouri. It has now been found in 31 Missouri counties, with most confirmed cases in southeast Missouri, Kansas City and St. Louis.

The small, metallic green beetle attacks only ash trees. The insect’s larvae burrow into the bark of the trees, killing them within three to four years.

The insect was first found in Missouri in 2008. It likely entered the state through infested firewood.

Officials have cut down thousands of healthy ash trees in an effort to slow the insect’s spread.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has imposed sanctions on Russian officials and intelligence services in retaliation for Russia’s interference in the U.S. presidential election by hacking American political sites and email accounts.

The State Department also has kicked out 35 Russian diplomats from its embassy in Washington and consulate in San Francisco, giving them and their families 72 hours to leave the U.S. The diplomats were declared persona non grata for acting in a “manner inconsistent with their diplomatic status.”

Obama said Russians will no longer have access to two Russian government-owned compounds in the United States, in Maryland and in New York.

Russian officials have denied the Obama administration’s accusation that the Russian government was trying to influence the U.S. presidential election.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia’s goal was to help Donald Trump win — an assessment Trump has dismissed as ridiculous.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — University of Kansas students are being offered buttons through the school’s library system that are meant to make their preferred gender pronouns clear.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that various University of Kansas Libraries employees also are wearing the buttons.

Library leaders say it’s part of the library system’s “You Belong Here” marketing effort targeted at luring undergraduates and ensuring they feel welcome, including transgender students.

Gender-identity buttons have cropped up elsewhere in the interest of inclusion. They were doled out at the start of this semester at Vermont’s Champlain College, home to a new Women and Gender Center. Students and teachers at the University of Vermont also have worn name tags and made business cards with their preferred pronouns.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A recent report by a Missouri task force says the state’s public universities and community colleges should not stray from the types of degrees their institutions can grant unless they have a good reason to do so.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Missouri lawmakers asked the task force, made up of 16 state higher education leaders, to address the issue after a dispute between the University of Missouri System and Missouri State University.

Missouri State officials were hoping to change a statute that controls which doctoral programs the Springfield university can grant and prohibits it from offering professional degrees, including medical and law.

The report says research and professional degrees are exclusively the role of the four University of Missouri schools and that 12 community colleges should stick to granting associate degrees and certificates.