BERLIN (AP) — German drug and chemicals company Bayer AG says it has made a $62 billion offer to buy U.S.-based crops and seeds specialist Monsanto Company.

Bayer said Monday that the all-cash offer values Monsanto shares at $122 each. It said in a statement that the acquisition “would be a compelling opportunity to create a global agriculture leader, while reinforcing Bayer as a life science company with a deepened position in a long-term growth industry.”

Bayer had said on Thursday that its executives met recently with their Monsanto counterparts “to privately discuss a negotiated acquisition” of the specialist in genetically modified crop seeds.

Monsanto is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri medical examiner plans to start spreading the ashes of indigent residents at a local cemetery when nobody is willing or able to take responsibility.

Greene County commissioners approved a policy last week that will help the county keep up with rising cremation prices and better track what happens to the deceased.

The Springfield News-Leader reports the county has kept remains in the medical examiner’s office since 2015. Before that, unclaimed ashes were kept at funeral homes or crematories around the city.

The policy change also removed a requirement for people to pay back funeral homes for cremation services if they want to claim indigent remains. Greene County Medical Examiner Tom Van De Berg says companies can charge families $700 and $1,500 for a basic cremation.

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — Two Joplin cousins who were nearly killed by an EF5 tornado that leveled one-third of their town say they don’t talk about the tornado much anymore. Lage Grigsby was so close to death that when he arrived at Freeman Hospital West after being pulled from the debris of a Home Depot store on May 22, 2011, he was taken to the morgue.

Mason Lillard’s surgeon says the girl would have died if a metal rod driven through her body would have shifted an inch in either direction.

The Joplin Globe reports Lage, now 19, and 15-year-old Mason were at Freeman Hospital on Thursday for the unveiling of a butterfly sculpture.

Mason and many other young survivors described “butterfly people” they said protected them during the tornado.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — An initiative proposing to raise Missouri’s cigarette tax to benefit early childhood programs is in jeopardy of not making the ballot after a judge ruled its financial estimate is insufficient and unfair.

The ruling Thursday by Cole County Circuit Judge Dan Green directs the state auditor to come up with a new cost estimate. That effectively invalidates all the petitions submitted to the secretary of state’s office earlier this month.

The group supporting the initiative said Friday that it will appeal.

The proposal would gradually raise Missouri’s cigarette tax by 60 cents a pack.

The auditor estimated it would generate $263 million to $374 million annually in state revenues with the impact on local revenues unknown.

Green ruled the state estimate was too high and that local costs were possible.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Labor Department says unemployment rates were significantly lower in five states in April, led by a big drop in Kentucky. Kentucky saw its unemployment rate fall to 5.3 percent, down from 5.6 percent in March.

The other four states were Arkansas, Delaware, Kansas and Vermont.

Four states saw significantly higher jobless rates last month: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Wyoming and Utah. The largest increase was in Pennsylvania, where the rate rose to 5.3 percent from 4.9 percent.

The other 41 states were seen as having stable unemployment rates from March to April.

The national jobless rate was unchanged in April at 5 percent.

Over the past year, 37 states have added an appreciable number of jobs. Two states have lost jobs, and 11 states have seen job levels essentially unchanged.

AUGUSTA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri fire official says a teenager has survived a 50-foot fall from a bluff near Augusta west of St. Louis.

Assistant chief Paul Hopen of the August Fire Protection District says the victim sustained injuries not considered life-threatening during the tumble in Klondike Park.

Hopen says the teenager and his friend were in an area of the park they shouldn’t have been, out on the rocks near a cliff, when he slipped and tumbled, and a tree broke his fall.

Hopen says the teenager sustained cuts and bruises and was alert and responsive when he was flown to a St. Louis hospital for evaluation.

ENTERPRISE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a 29-year-old woman has been arrested in the death of her toddler in central Kansas.

The Salina Journal reports that the Enterprise woman is jailed in Dickinson County. Sheriff Gareth Hoffman says the injured 13-month-old was brought Monday night to a hospital in Abilene after the mother reported finding the child unresponsive. The toddler died a short time later.

The sheriff’s office began investigating after determining that the toddler’s death was suspicious. The investigation included an autopsy and several interviews.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A tractor-trailer driver from Texas is charged in Kansas in a fiery Interstate 70 crash that killed the driver of another rig.

Thomas County court documents say 45-year-old Fednor Duclona, of Fort Worth, Texas, attempted a U-turn on the interstate on the same day as the January crash that killed 52-year-old Rodney A. Hongsermeier, of North Platte, Nebraska.

Duclona faces charges that include vehicular homicide and reckless driving. Duclona was released Wednesday from the Johnson County Jail on a $200,000 bond.

It wasn’t immediately known if he had an attorney.

Imprisoned national security leaker Chelsea Manning is asking a military appeals court to reverse her conviction for sending classified information to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, or reduce her 35-year sentence to ten years.

Manning’s lawyers released the appeal Thursday after a security review. They filed the document Wednesday in the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

It calls Manning’s sentence “grossly unfair and unprecedented.” The document says Manning meant to reveal the toll of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that her disclosures harmed no one.

Manning is imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The transgender soldier, formerly Bradley Manning, was convicted in 2013 of espionage and other offenses for sending WikiLeaks more than 700,000 digital files including battlefield logs, diplomatic cables and video clips.