INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A man who drove 115 mph and used marijuana before a deadly suburban Kansas City crash has been sentenced to two and a half years in Missouri prison.

Julian Melissinas of Blue Springs apologized to the victim’s family during his sentencing Thursday in Jackson County. That’s where the 21-year-old pleaded guilty in June to an involuntary manslaughter count related to 19-year-old Clint Jacoby Reno’s death in May of last year.

The Kansas City Star reports several relatives of Reno were dismayed by the sentence being half of the punishment prosecutors sought. The charge is punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Police calculate Melissinas was going about 115 mph, with Reno as a passenger, when the vehicle went airborne, traveled through a field and struck a tree.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Officials say roughly a dozen inmates were involved in an attack on nine staff members at a Nebraska prison.

Lincoln Correctional Center spokeswoman Tammy Kluver said Thursday that investigators are trying to determine exactly what happened.

The Nebraska State Patrol is reviewing video footage of the incident that took place Wednesday evening in a small courtyard. Prison officials say the inmates involved had refused to return to their cells.

Kluver says the injured employees were treated at hospitals and released. One female staff member required staples to close a gash in her head. Authorities used pepper spray to subdue the inmates.

Gov. Pete Ricketts plans to meet with prison officials Thursday to discuss the incident.

The Lincoln Correctional Center, a medium-maximum security prison for adult males, remains on lockdown.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri audit says there’s a nearly $600 million backlog of deferred maintenance on state buildings because of inadequate funding.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway said Thursday that years of funding shortfalls also meant state-owned offices and other buildings have not been inspected regularly.

Galloway pointed to funding restrictions by Gov. Jay Nixon as part of the problem.

Office of Administration spokeswoman Ryan Burns says Nixon’s worked to reduce a backlog he inherited when he took office.

She also pointed to a recent bonding initiative signed by Nixon that she says will reduce the backlog by another $142 million.

The Facilities Management, Design and Construction Division under the Administration Office generally agreed with criticisms in the audit. It’s now working to inspect buildings and says it will push for more funding.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A retired Army colonel who is running for a seat in the Nebraska Legislature plans to campaign on horseback next month.

Tom Brewer is expected to lead a 500-mile ride across western Nebraska’s 43rd legislative district from Sept. 3-22. Brewer is running against incumbent state Sen. Al Davis, a rancher and former volunteer firefighter from Hyannis. Both are Republicans in an officially nonpartisan race.

Brewer and other combat veterans are scheduled to visit 16 towns in the district. Brewer was the top vote-getter in Nebraska’s May legislative primary, but will face Davis again in the Nov. 8 general election.

The 43rd district encompasses a vast rural area around the Sandhills, including all of 12 counties and part of Box Butte County.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland has settled a lawsuit over claims the company was behind a now-imprisoned grain broker’s scheme that gouged millions from dozens of Missouri farmers.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Thursday’s confidential settlement ended a civil trial in St. Louis. Terms weren’t disclosed, and ADM says in a statement it admits no wrongdoing.

Cathy Gieseker was sentenced in 2010 to nine years in federal prison for what prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme involving 179 farmers bilked of more than $27 million.

She claimed to have a deal with ADM that let her broker corn and soybean crops for premium prices and pay the farmers a higher yield later.

The lawsuit involving roughly 160 plaintiffs claimed ADM management knew about and instructed Gieseker’s scheme.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The search has started in Missouri for the large Christmas tree that will adorn the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion.

The donated tree must be about 40 feet tall and an eastern red cedar, Norway spruce or white pine. Candidate trees must be fully branched on all sides and accessible by large equipment. They also may either be near the end of its life or may need to be removed for other reasons.

Landowners, homeowners, businesses and communities are urged to contact the Missouri Department of Conservation about possible candidates by Sept. 30. The agency coordinates the cutting and delivery of the tree to the Governor’s Mansion.

The owner receives an invitation to the lighting ceremony.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Greene County jury convicted a man of shooting and seriously injuring a Springfield police officer last year.

Joshua Hagood of Springfield was convicted Wednesday of first-degree assault of a law enforcement officer, armed criminal action and a firearm-related felony. Prosecutors said during the three-day trial that Hagood shot officer Aaron Pearson in January 2015.

Pearson was shot while investigating suspicious activity in northeast Springfield. Authorities the shooting occurred when Pearson tried to stop Hagood, who was walking away from the area. Hagood was found about seven hours later hiding within 200 yards from where Pearson was shot.

The shooting ended Pearson’s career. Despite severe injuries, he has regained the ability to walk, talk and exercise.

Pearson doesn’t remember the shooting and didn’t testify during the trial.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) –€” A former teacher in Independence has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. Federal prosecutors say 44-year-old Jason Pink pleaded guilty Wednesday to possessing child pornography while he was a teacher at Fort Osage High School in 2014.

Prosecutors say investigators found evidence that Pink bought the pornography on several occasions from a movie production company located outside the U.S.

U.S. Postal Inspectors found several DVDs and a thumb drive that contained child pornography at Pink’s home.

Pink faces up to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

CUNNINGHAM, Kan. (AP) — A southern Kansas construction project has uncovered a tusk believed to have belonged to a mammoth. The Hutchinson News reports that the discovery was made last week while the Kingman County city of Cunningham was running a sewer line across a grain elevator’s property.

Skyland Grain CEO David Cron says a Wichita State University associate professor would examine the seven- to eight-foot-long curved tusk Friday. Mammoths are the extinct, prehistoric cousin to the elephant and once roamed the region. Their bones also were discovered on a Scott County farm in recent years.

Cron is hoping to get advice on how to extract the tusk without damaging it. Eventually, he would like to see it displayed for the public, although curiosity-seekers are being shooed away from the business for now.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has delayed sentencing for a Kansas man who has admitted aiding a Topeka man’s plan to detonate what they thought was a bomb at Fort Riley.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree heard a psychologist testify Wednesday at the hearing for 29-year-old Alexander Blair. The U.S. attorney’s office says the judge wanted some time to go over the material before handing down a sentence.

No new sentencing date has been set.

Blair pleaded guilty in May to a conspiracy count that carries up to five years’ imprisonment. He admitted loaning John T. Booker $100 to pay for the storage of the device during an FBI undercover operation.