ZALMA, Mo. (AP) — A southeastern Missouri man is charged with assault after authorities say he tried to set his house on fire while his girlfriend was inside.

The (Cape Girardeau) Southeast Missourian reports that 35-year-old Mark Rohan of tiny Zalma in Bollinger County is charged with second-degree domestic assault and unlawful use of a weapon.

An investigator says in a probable-cause statement that after the couple argued, the girlfriend was packing a duffel bag with plans to leave the house when Rohan doused the inside of the house with gasoline and tried to ignite it.

When the woman was trying to flee, Rohan allegedly grabbed her before she broke away and went to her parent’s house.

Online court records don’t show whether Rohan has an attorney.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Mike Harper, who is credited with transforming ConAgra from a struggling grain company into a giant food conglomerate, has died in Omaha.

John A. Gentleman Mortuaries said Monday that Harper died Saturday at the age of 88. His daughter Elizabeth Murphy told the Omaha World-Herald that friends had visited her father during his final weeks and that he died peacefully at home.

In addition to his ConAgra work from 1974 through 1992, Harper also helped create the downtown Omaha renaissance by constructing ConAgra’s headquarters campus along the Missouri River and in Nebraska’s economic growth through his insistence the state adopt tax incentives.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said Sunday that Harper “was charming, hard-nosed, generous, and a great role model for any aspiring business executive.”

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Authorities in southwestern Missouri’s Greene County say a jailer is recovering after being seriously injured during an alleged assault by an inmate.

Sheriff Jim Arnott says the unidentified deputy serving as a corrections officer during the Saturday altercation sustained a broken nose, fractured jaw, a concussion and cuts that required staples on his head to stop the bleeding.

The sheriff’s department’s statement did not identify the inmate or offer details about what prompted the reported assault that Arnott called “a horrendous event.”

Arnott says the matter remains under investigation, and no charges were filed as of late afternoon Monday.

BENTON, Kan. (AP) — Authorities in southern Kansas’ Butler County are trying to determine what caused an apparently unattended rural house to explode.

Sheriff Kelly Herzet says the family that the blast leveled the structure near Benton about 5 a.m. Monday.

Authorities say a neighbor’s windows were blown out, but there were no injuries.

Herzet says he heard the blast from his house, about 20 miles away.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Kansas City, Kansas, investigators say they believe they have identified a potential suspect in the 26-year-old unsolved murder of a 19-year-old woman and an unresolved slaying five years later.

The Kansas City Star reports that detectives perhaps have a link between the 1989 killing of Sarah Jo DeLeon, the unsolved 1994 slaying of Diana Marie Ault in Independence, Missouri, and an abduction in 1987.

Investigators aren’t saying why they believe the deaths of DeLeon and Ault are connected.

Detective Scott Howard says the investigation has revealed that the suspect and an accomplice have been involved in other incidents involving the harassment and intimidation of romantic rivals.

Another detective, Mike Warczakoski, says he hopes to present the case in coming weeks to Wyandotte County prosecutors.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas again faces a threat that its public schools won’t open for the next school year.

The threat arises because of a ruling from the state Supreme Court on education funding changes made by the Republican-dominated Legislature earlier this year.

The court on Friday rejected some of the changes. They revised parts of the state’s school finance system but didn’t change the overall aid for most of its 286 local districts.

The court said the remaining flaws make the system unfair to poor districts, violating the state constitution.

Four school districts sued the state over education funding in 2010. That’s prompted a series of court rulings.

One in February from the Supreme Court directed legislators to make the funding system fairer for poor districts. Legislators enacted their changes in March.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City woman who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The Kansas City Star reports that 37-year-old Marie Chishahayo was sentenced Friday. Chishahayo had also pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, armed criminal action and abuse or neglect of a child.

Authorities say police officers were called to a home in March 2015 to investigate a report about a child with burn injuries. Police found the 2-year-old girl dead with burns all over her body. A severely injured 3-year-old girl was also found in the home.

CASSVILLE, Mo. (AP) — Authorities in southwestern Missouri say an 8-year-old boy has drowned in a creek.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says Haiden Harrison of Cassville was swimming about 1 p.m. Friday in Flat Creek in Barry County when he disappeared under water.

Rescuers eventually pulled the unresponsive boy out, but resuscitation efforts failed. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

HOUSTON (AP) — At least three people are still missing after torrential rain in Texas and Kansas this week led to flooding rivers, washed out roads and left four people dead.

In Kansas, the search for a missing 11-year-old boy was suspended late Saturday because of darkness and the fatigue of first responders, according to Wichita Fire Department battalion chief Scott Brown. The boy was swept away in a swollen creek on Friday night.

Near Austin in Travis County, Texas, officials planned to resume aerial searches on Sunday for two missing people whose vehicle was swept off a flooded roadway after the area got 9 inches of rain, said emergency services spokeswoman Lisa Block.

Four people have died in Texas from the flooding.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is pardoning nine people convicted of nonviolent crimes.

Nixon on Friday announced the pardons for military veterans and others who completed their sentences.

Granting a pardon restores rights but does not expunge criminal records.

Those granted clemency were convicted of stealing, burglary or possession of controlled substances such as methamphetamine.

Nixon spokesman Scott Holste said the Democratic governor has granted 23 pardons since taking office in 2009. He’s granted three commutations, which shorten sentences.

Holste said there are about 3,000 pending requests for clemency, which include pardons and commutations.