ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Missouri Court of Appeals is being asked to decide if a divorced St. Louis County couple’s frozen embryos are property or human beings with constitutional rights.

Jalesia McQueen is suing to be able to use the embryos to have more children. Her ex-husband, Justin Gadberry, says he doesn’t want any more children with McQueen and doesn’t believe he should be required to reproduce against his will.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the two frozen embryos have been stored in a lab in Virginia for six years. The couple has had joint custody of them since a family court commissioner ruled in 2015 that the embryos are “marital property.”

Attorneys for the former couple argued before the appeals court Tuesday. A decision is not expected for months.

OZARK, Mo. (AP) — Two southwest Missouri men are charged with breaking into a small police department and stealing firearms and other law enforcement gear.

The thefts in February at the Sparta police station came when the building was not staffed because all the town’s police officers had resigned.

Christian County prosecutors on Wednesday charged Dylan McGinnis, of Sparta, and Rhyan Bower, of Springfield with first-degree burglary and three theft counts.

KYTV-TV reports the thieves took AR-15 rifles, ammunition, bulletproof vests and several uniforms.

A probable cause statement doesn’t say whether investigators recovered the stolen weapons.

After relying on the Christian County Sheriff’s Department for several months, Sparta has had its own police force for a couple of months.

It was not immediately clear if the two men had attorneys.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ top education official says he fears that school counselor positions in the state have become too focused on administrative tasks.

Education commissioner Randy Watson addressed more than 350 school counselors from across the state at an annual conference Tuesday in Manhattan organized by Kansas State University.

Kansas data indicates that each public school counselor in the state handles about 440 students each. Watson says the state needs to decrease that number.

Watson says counselors often pour many hours into administrative duties that detract them from fulfilling their mission of helping students build social and emotional skills and explore options for after high school. He says Kansas schools need to rethink the number of counselors they employ as well as what tasks they assign to counselors.

HAYS, Kan. (AP) — A judge has ruled that a purported updated will from a Kansas multimillionaire was not valid and the man’s former caretaker will not receive most of his $21 million estate.

This week’s ruling by Kansas Senior Judge William Lyle Jr. is a victory for the Fort Hays State University Foundation, the primary beneficiary of the estate of 98-year-old Earl O. Field, of Hays.

Field’s former caretaker, Wanda Oborny said she found a letter typed on Field’s stationary after his death. She says the letter said Field decided to give most of his estate to her, rather than to the foundation.

Steve and Kathy Little, of Hays, who said they witnessed Field sign the new will, died in a murder-suicide in August 2015.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback isn’t saying yet whether he’ll call the Kansas Legislature into special session to respond to a recent state Supreme Court order on public schools.

The Republican governor said Wednesday after lawmakers adjourned their annual session that he will work with their leaders and Attorney General Derek Schmidt to respond “aggressively” to any action by the court to close the state’s schools.

The court on Friday rejected education funding changes made earlier this year by lawmakers. It warned that schools will be unable to reopen after June 30 if lawmakers don’t approve additional changes by then.

Lawmakers adjourned without approving a response to the court order. House Speaker Ray Merrick called the court “judicial hostage takers.”

Brownback said the courts should not be “playing politics” with children’s education.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State officials say they are meeting with architects to discuss plans for renovating the Docking State Office Building in Topeka.

A legislative committee heard testimony Wednesday that options for the building including a complete renovation or removing several of the building’s dozen floors.

Architect Keith Blackburn said a complete renovation would cost about $84.5 million. Reducing the building to four stories would cost $49.1 million, while three floors would cost $44.7 million and making it a single-story building would cost $30 million.

Blackburn said under either option, the state will have to do abatement work to remove asbestos and lead paint.

A majority of the hundreds of state employees who work in the building will be moved to another state building through spring 2017.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Missouri Court of Appeals is being asked to decide if a divorced St. Louis County couple’s frozen embryos are property or human beings with constitutional rights.

Jalesia McQueen is suing to be able to use the embryos to have more children. Her ex-husband, Justin Gadberry, says he doesn’t want any more children with McQueen and doesn’t believe he should be required to reproduce against his will.

The two frozen embryos have been stored in a lab in Virginia for six years. The couple has had joint custody of them since a family court commissioner ruled in 2015 that the embryos are “marital property.”

Attorneys for the former couple argued before the appeals court Tuesday. A decision is not expected for months.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Another University of Missouri dean at the Columbia campus is stepping down.

The school’s provost said in a Tuesday email to staff that College of Arts and Science Dean Michael O’Brien is resigning.

Provost Garnett Stokes said O’Brien is joining Texas A&M University-San Antonio as provost and vice president for academic affairs. He starts July 15.

He joined the Columbia faculty in 1980 as an assistant professor of anthropology. O’Brien began as dean in 2006.

He’s the third dean in roughly the past week to announce plans to resign.

Law School Dean Gary Myers announced that he’ll step down in August. Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources Dean Thomas Payne said he’s considered retiring for years and will step down in December for family reasons. He’s been dean since 1999.

OZARK, Mo. (AP) — Two southwest Missouri men are charged with breaking into a small police department and stealing firearms and other law enforcement gear.

The thefts in February at the Sparta police station came when the building was not staffed because all the town’s police officers had resigned.

Christian County prosecutors on Wednesday charged Dylan McGinnis, of Sparta, and Rhyan Bower, of Springfield with first-degree burglary and three theft counts.

The thieves took AR-15 rifles, ammunition, bulletproof vests and several uniforms.

A probable cause statement doesn’t say whether investigators recovered the stolen weapons.

After relying on the Christian County Sheriff’s Department for several months, Sparta has had its own police force for a couple of months.

It was not immediately clear if the two men had attorneys.