JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri seniors, the blind and those with disabilities will be able to save more but still qualify for Medicaid health care under a new law.

Gov. Jay Nixon signed the legislation Thursday.

The current limit is $1,000 in assets for an individual and $2,000 for married couples. That will double when the expansion takes effect in July 2017 and will continue to increase yearly. When fully implemented in 2021, individuals can keep $5,000 and married couples can save up to $10,000.

The Missouri Department of Social Services estimates about 10,000 more people will qualify for benefits by 2021, although the Republican bill sponsor disputes that.

The idea is to allow people to save more for emergency expenses.

The legislation does not include a broad Medicaid eligibility expansion sought by Democrats.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — All sides of the ethanol and biofuels debate are questioning a federal agency’s proposal to boost the amount of renewable fuels blended into gasoline.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency held its only public hearing Thursday in Kansas City, Missouri, on the plan to boost the levels of biofuels next year and biomass-based diesel levels for 2018. Roughly 140 people were scheduled to testify.

The EPA’s final rule is expected by the end of the year.

Next year’s target of 18.8 billion gallons of renewable fuels, mostly ethanol, is less than the 24 billion-gallon threshold set in a 2007 renewable fuels law.

Ethanol advocates largely in farming states testified the target is too low. Oil companies countered that the market, not the government, should determine how much ethanol is blended into gas.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The second trial has begun in the lawsuit filed against Gage County by people wrongfully convicted in a 1985 rape and slaying.

In his opening statement Tuesday in a federal courtroom in Lincoln, defense attorney Jeff Patterson told jurors that “we’re here to right the wrong of the worst miscarriage of justice in Nebraska history.”

The six people — James Dean, Kathleen Gonzalez, Debra Shelden, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Thomas Winslow and Joseph White — were wrongly convicted in the killing of Helen Wilson in Beatrice and served a combined 77 years in prison before DNA testing cleared them in 2008.

The first trial last year ended in a mistrial.

Known as the Beatrice Six, they’ve argued that Gage County investigators labored to close the case despite contradictory evidence.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback is embracing a $38 million increase in state aid for poor Kansas school districts ahead of a special session of the Legislature.

Brownback issued a proclamation Wednesday calling lawmakers back to the Statehouse on June 23 to respond to a state Supreme Court order last month on education funding.

He said during the news conference that he’s looking for legislators to meet a single day to fashion a plan for providing the extra dollars to poor districts.

But he also said he’s willing to consider a variety of ways to raise the funds that include shifting it from other pots of aid for public schools. He said he’s willing to consider education policy proposals to help gain support for the additional aid for poor districts.

HESSTON, Kansas (AP) — The man who killed three people before Hesston, Kansas, police fatally shot him in February is estimated to have had more than 135 times the standard dose of methamphetamine in his system.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Cedric L. Ford also had three times the legal limit of alcohol for driving in his system.

An autopsy shows Ford died from four gunshot wounds after the shooting spree that started along a highway and ended inside his workplace, Excel Industries.

Forensic expert Jonathan Lipman says methamphetamine tends to have a strong, psychotic impact on people who already suffer from mood disorders.

Ford had been served a protection order at work hours earlier. A woman he lived with said Ford grabbed her and put her in a chokehold earlier that month.

WENTZVILLE, Mo. (AP) — A judge has sentenced a former Wentzville day care provider to five years in prison in the 2009 death in of an 18-month-old boy under her care.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that St. Charles County Circuit Judge Rick Zerr issued the sentence for 42-year-old Lisa West after he rejected the defense attorneys’ request for a new trial.

West was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in April for causing Mason Beach’s head injury. Prosecutors said West struck the boy just minutes after his mother left him at West’s home day care. West said the boy accidentally fell down stairs.

Zerr agreed with the jury’s recommendation of a five-year prison sentence. He couldn’t have exceeded the recommendation but could’ve sentenced West to less time.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man is dead after an early morning shootout with federal drug agents who went to a Kansas City home to serve a warrant.

Kansas City Police Capt. Tye Grant says the man opened fire at Drug Enforcement Administration task force agents after they entered the home around 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Grant says the DEA agents returned fire and hit the man in the leg as they backed away to a secure area.

Agents fired tear gas into the home around 7 a.m. after a four-hour standoff, and just before 7:30 a.m. the man came out of the house and pointed a gun at officers. Grant says the officers feared for their safety and shot the man, whose identity has not been released.

No officers were injured in the incident.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Wichita police department is investigating after about 30 egrets were found dead in a residential area.

The Wichita Eagle reports that egrets are protected by federal law and that it’s illegal to kill or injure the birds. People are also not allowed to harass or move them once they’ve nested.

The department has been working on the case with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

Authorities say they spent “all day” Wednesday investigating and that more information was likely to be released Thursday. Egrets had been known to roost in a residential area a little more than a mile north of where the deceased birds were found, sometimes irritating residents. But most of the trees they used to roost were bulldozed last year.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Preliminary figures show the number of Iowa voters to cast ballots in the primary election this week was the lowest in more than a decade.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says 187,969 voters cast ballots in the U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday, the only statewide race on the ballot. That represents 9.7 percent of the 1.9 million active registered voters.

It’s the lowest number since 164,404 voters cast ballots in 2004, a year with no federal or statewide primary challenges.

Since 2000 statewide turnout has ranged from 16.6 percent in 2002 when there was a highly contested governor’s race to 9.5 percent in 2008, another year with no statewide primary races.

Pate says the reason for low turnout this year may be voter apathy centered on frustration with government.

FORT RILEY, Kan. (AP) — A war of words is being waged at a Kansas military base after a highly decorated retired officer was disinvited from a prayer breakfast because of complaints about his outspoken Christian conservative views.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports retired Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin was scheduled to speak Monday at Fort Riley as part of the 1st Infantry Division’s “Victory Week.”

Boykin spent 36 years in the Army and led the elite Delta Force in attempts to recover hostages in Iran, apprehend Manuel Noriega and track drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

But he also has drawn attention for claiming Islam doesn’t deserve First Amendment protection and that President Barack Obama subliminally supports al-Qaeda.

Boykin was disinvited from the breakfast after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation protested his appearance at the event.