WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The proposed $12.2 billion merger of Kansas-based Westar Energy with Missouri-based Kansas City Power & Light could be at the mercy of Missouri utility regulators whose staff has recommended the deal be rejected.

Great Plains Energy, parent company of KCP&L, says it doesn’t need Missouri’s permission for the purchase, which would combine operations to serve 1.5 million customers on both sides of the state line.

The Missouri Public Service Commission’s staff is concerned that the merger would lead to layoffs and harm Great Plains’ credit rating, leading to higher costs for customers.

James Owen, acting director of Missouri’s Office of Public Counsel, believes the commission staff will file a challenge against the deal. If not, his office will.

NEW YORK (AP) — The deep-fried Twinkie is jumping from the state fair to the home freezer.

Hostess Brands is launching packaged “Deep Fried Twinkies” starting Friday that mark its first foray into frozen foods.

The cream-filled snack in vanilla or chocolate is the result of a yearlong collaboration between Hostess and Wal-Mart, as both companies look to spark food sales with innovative products. Hostess says the Twinkie is a bigger business now than even right before the company filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

For Wal-Mart, it’s part of a strategy of working with suppliers to come up with twists on existing foods or developing new ones. The company, which gets more than half its sales from food, opened a food lab in June as it aims to get products to the shelves faster.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Missouri State University is in the midst of a multi-million dollar construction boom on its Springfield campus.

The Springfield News-Leader reports many of the smaller of the $123 million in projects are expected to be completed when fall classes start Aug. 22 but larger projects will continue and others haven’t yet broken ground.

The smaller projects include improving fire suppression and accessibility for students. The largest project is the expansion and renovation of Glass Hall, the home of the College of Business.

University President Clif Smart says the projects will be funded by a mix of university, state, federal and private money.

Another project, a $1.6 million safe room to provide shelter during tornadoes, will be the first of its kind on campus.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The huge Kansas City, Kansas, waterslide on which a 10-year-old boy recently died was built in a state known for its light regulation of amusement park rides.

The company also lobbied legislators to help ensure that it remained responsible for its own inspections.

Kansas mandates annual inspections of permanent rides but allows private inspectors to do the checks, rather than requiring state inspections.

The state does only random audits of operators’ records, and there are no additional local safety regulations for the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City.

Before Kansas considered imposing inspection requirements for amusement rides in 2008, a Schlitterbahn lobbyist urged lawmakers to allow large parks to handle their own inspections.

States’ regulations of amusement rides are facing scrutiny following the death Sunday of Caleb Thomas Schwab at the park.

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Police in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield are searching for a man who broke into a home, robbed a couple and locked them in a closet.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the crime happened Thursday night. The man and woman were not injured.

Police say the intruder hid his face with a ski mask. He threatened the couple with a screwdriver, forced them into a closet and locked it. He used the screwdriver to pry open a small safe and got away with undisclosed items.

Chesterfield Police Capt. Steve Lewis says the intruder probably though the home was unoccupied and was surprised by the couple. He says crime is rare in the neighborhood.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A government report says the cost of expanding Medicaid to millions more low-income people is increasing faster than expected.

That’s raising questions about a vital part of President Barack Obama’s health care law.

The law called for the federal government to pay the entire cost of the Medicaid expansion from 2014 through the end of this year.

Obama has proposed an extra incentive for states that have not yet expanded Medicaid: three years of full federal financing no matter when they start. But the new cost estimate could complicate things.

In a recent report to Congress, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the cost of expansion was $6,366 per person for 2015, about 49 percent higher than previously estimated.

The Obama administration says those estimates are preliminary.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A 23-year-old man is jailed on $500,000 cash bond after being accused of a hit-and-run car crash that killed a 12-year-old boy in St. Louis.

Prosecutors have charged Brayan Sosa with involuntary manslaughter, leaving an accident scene and evidence tampering.

Police say Clinton Vorce died at a hospital after being hit by a car Tuesday night while walking near Bevo Mill.

Police say the car was speeding and kept going after the boy was hit.

Online court records do not show whether Sosa has an attorney.

STANTON, Neb. (AP) — A man sought in a Kentucky slaying has been found in northeast Nebraska.

Authorities say 34-year-old Maurice Candies, of St. Louis, was taken into custody around 11:15 p.m. Wednesday on a Warren County, Kentucky, arrest warrant. He was found hiding in a cabinet at a trailer home in Stanton, Nebraska, where he’d been staying.

He’s suspected in the shooting death of a man in Bowling Green, Kentucky, earlier this month.

It’s unclear whether Candies has an attorney who could comment for him. He’s being held in Madison County Jail, awaiting extradition.

JENNINGS, Mo. (AP) — A police chief says one of his suburban St. Louis officers is expected to survive after being wounded during a shooting linked to a chase of a suspect.

St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez tells KTVI-TV that he had few immediate details of whether the shooting happened before, during or after the chase that ended in a crash in nearby Jennings.

Jimenez says the unidentified officer was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Other details were not immediately available, including what prompted the chase or whether any suspects were in custod