HILLSBORO, Mo. (AP) — An 82-year-old woman has died after being knocked to the ground during a robbery in suburban St. Louis, and the suspect is now facing murder charges.

Arlene Mae Marschel was robbed at a service station gas pump in Crystal City on July 11. Police say 34-year-old Michael Paul Hopfer grabbed Marschel’s wallet from her hand, pushed her to the ground, and drove away.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Marschel was injured in the fall and was on life support for five days until her death.

Hopfer is charged with second-degree murder along with robbery. He is jailed on $200,000 cash-only bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Opponents of a crude oil pipeline under construction in Iowa continue to fight the project and plan to protest next week after a land condemnation hearing for a central Iowa landowner being forced to allow a Texas oil company to cross his farm.

Polk County officials are expected to condemn property Monday on Dan Higginbottom’s farm under eminent domain laws the Iowa Utilities Board authorized Dakota Access to use for its $3.8 billion pipeline cutting across Iowa diagonally.

Higgenbottom argues the Iowa Utilities Board lacks legal authority to use eminent domain for a private pipeline. Historically, such authority was given to public utilities. The board is defending five lawsuits challenging its decision.

Organizations including Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and Bold Iowa promise to risk arrest in civil disobedience demonstrations.

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska prison unit that was placed on lockdown after a fight between inmates is resuming its regular operations. The unit at the Tecumseh State Correctional Center was expected to return to its normal status on Wednesday.

Prison officials say several inmates were involved in the July 14 altercation, and two were taken to an outside medical facility for treatment. One of the assaults involved an improvised weapon.

The living unit was kept on lockdown through the weekend while prison staff interviewed inmates and searched for contraband. No other weapons were found.

Prison officials say about 40 inmates from the unit demanded to know when the lockdown was going to end while at lunch. They agreed to return to the unit after staff members gave them more information.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s unemployment rate is up but still is below the national rate.

Data from the state’s Economic Development Department released Tuesday show Missouri’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 4.3 percent in May to 4.5 percent in June.

The national unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in June. The state agency says June marked the 25th month that Missouri’s rate remained below the national one.

Missouri’s total number of payroll jobs remained steady from May to June.

The total seasonally adjusted civilian labor force is about 3.1 million people.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Federal court records indicate a woman accused of giving her former boyfriend guns that he used in a shooting at a Kansas lawn equipment factory is planning to change her plea.

The Hutchinson News reports that a Monday court filing shows a jury trial for 28-year-old Sarah Jo Hopkins has been canceled and a plea change hearing set for Aug. 19. Hopkins pleaded not guilty in March to one count of transferring weapons to a prohibited person.

She is accused of giving Cedric Ford a semi-automatic rifle and a .40-caliber handgun that he used in the Feb. 25 attack at Excel Industries in Hesston. Four people were killed, including Ford, and 14 others were injured.

Court records say she gave Ford the guns after he threatened her.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a two-tiered election system that require Kansas election officials to throw out thousands of votes cast in state and local races by people who registered at motor vehicle offices or used a federal form without providing documentary proof of their U.S. citizenship.

The class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Shawnee County District Court comes a week after a state board approved the temporary measure. The board’s decision was made a day before advance voting began for the Aug. 2 primary.

The rule was sought by Secretary of State Kris Kobach and will be in effect through the Nov. 8 general election.

A federal judge in May ordered the state to allow people who registered at motor vehicle offices to vote in federal elections.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. government has announced it is removing the lesser prairie chicken from a federal protection list under the Endangered Species Act.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday the move follows recent court rulings in Texas that stripped the lesser prairie chicken of federal protection. However, federal officials say the removal didn’t mean authorities had concluded the lesser prairie chicken didn’t warrant federal protection for biological reasons.

The rulings found that Fish and Wildlife failed to make a proper evaluation of a multistate conservation plan when it listed the lesser prairie chicken as threatened.

Oil and gas groups had strongly opposed the threatened listing, saying it would cost companies millions.

The lesser prairie chicken lives in Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander says a court-ordered change to a proposed tobacco tax is not enough to disqualify it from the ballot.

Kander told local election authorities Monday to continue verifying petition signatures submitted for the proposal. If the measure has enough valid signatures, Kander says he will certify it for the November ballot.

The measure proposes a gradual 60-cent increase to the state’s 17-cent-a-pack cigarette tax. It also proposes a 67-cent-a-pack fee on companies that weren’t part of a 1998 settlement between states and big tobacco companies.

An appeals court ruled the ballot summary prepared by Kander’s office should be changed to say the fee will rise annually.

The opponents’ attorney, Chuck Hatfield, says he likely will sue again if Kander certifies the measure for the ballot.

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — As hot, humid weather bears down on the central U.S., officials are saying heat is to blame in the recent death of a Missouri woman.

The St. Louis County medical examiner’s office confirmed Tuesday that heat was to blame in the death of an elderly woman found in her home last week. Authorities didn’t release any additional details about the woman or her death.

Heat and humidity is expected to build across a huge swath of the U.S. over the next few days. The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat watches and heat advisories for much of the Plains, Mississippi Valley, Midwest and South through the weekend. Highs are forecast to be well into the 90s and low 100s by the end of the week, with humidity making it feel about 10 degrees warmer.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A surgeon in the Kansas City, Kansas, area says that the officer who was shot multiple times by suspects in an earlier shooting has died.

University of Kansas trauma surgeon James Howard says the officer, Capt. Robert Melton, arrived just before 2:30 p.m. and that resuscitation efforts did not work.

The officer was shot Tuesday afternoon in his car as he approached people matching the description of suspects in an earlier shooting.

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3:45 p.m.

Police in Kansas City, Kansas, say a ranking officer was in his patrol car when he was shot multiple times by suspects in an earlier shooting.

Spokesman Tom Tomasic says officers responded around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to a report of an armed disturbance involving shots fired at a person from people in a car.

He says three or four suspects jumped out of the car after police arrived at the scene. One person was taken into custody there, and a second was apprehended later.

About a half-hour after the initial report, an officer saw people matching the suspects’ description 20 blocks from the original scene and approached them in his patrol car.

Tomasic says the officer was shot multiple times and his wounds are considered life-threatening, but he couldn’t say where on the body the officer was shot.

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3:10 p.m.

An officer with Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department is in critical condition after being shot while investigating a report of person being shot at by several people in a vehicle.

Police say three or four people were inside the vehicle but jumped out and ran when officers arrived at the scene at 1:37 p.m. Tuesday. An officer took a suspect into custody at 1:39 p.m. A different officer was shot at 1:57 p.m. when he tried to make contact with another suspect.

Police spokesman Cameron Morgan says the search continues for additional suspects.

Tuesday’s shooting was the second of a Kansas City, Kansas, police officer since early May, when a police detective was shot and killed near Kansas Speedway.

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — An officer with Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department is in critical condition after being shot while investigating a report of person being shot at by several people in a vehicle.

Police say three or four people were inside the vehicle but jumped out and ran when officers arrived at the scene at 1:37 p.m. Tuesday. An officer took a suspect into custody at 1:39 p.m. A different officer was shot at 1:57 p.m. when he tried to make contact with another suspect.

Police spokesman Cameron Morgan says the search continues for additional suspects.

Tuesday’s shooting was the second of a Kansas City, Kansas, police officer since early May, when a police detective was shot and killed near Kansas Speedway.