JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers would need to wait six months after their term ends before lobbying under a compromise reached by a legislative panel.

House and Senate members Wednesday hashed out a tentative agreement on a bill to limit when lawmakers can lobby in the Capitol.

Legislators now can immediately lobby their former colleagues after leaving office. The push to close that revolving door comes as lawmakers are trying to tighten ethics policies following resignations last year of two lawmakers accused of inappropriate behavior toward interns.

Senators in February stripped the bill of a House-backed provision for a one-year waiting period.

Negotiators tentatively agreed on a six-month waiting period for current and future lawmakers.

The full House and Senate also would need to vote on the deal.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Missouri Secretary of State’s office and the St. Louis County Council are both seeking answers after a ballot shortage plagued several polling places during Tuesday’s municipal elections.

Democratic elections director Eric Fey says shortages occurred in 63 precincts that required ballots for multiple jurisdictions such as school board and municipal government elections. Those polling places require two different styles of ballots. Somehow, the number of ballots needed for each style was reversed. The result was too many ballots in some styles, too few in others.

The Secretary of State’s Elections Integrity Unit is reviewing the election. Meanwhile, the County Council plans a public hearing where election board members will testify about what went wrong. A specific date has not been set.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City police are investigating remains found at a dump site.

Police said Wednesday in a release that the remains appear to be those of a human, but that further tests will be conducted.

Police spokesman Darin Snapp says the release that crews found the remains at the dump site during a city cleanup project Wednesday morning.

He says police will work the case as though the remains were those of a human until they hear differently from the Jackson County medical examiner’s office.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt says he has no plans to meet with President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, though nearly 20 other Republican senators have said they are willing to do so.

Blunt told reporters on a conference call Wednesday that he sees no need to meet with appeals Judge Merrick Garland because he doesn’t believe Garland should be confirmed.

Obama nominated Garland last month after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Blunt says voters should have a say in process through the presidential election. He says the Senate should not confirm any Supreme Court nominee before Obama’s term ends in January 2017. Blunt says the new president should get to nominate Scalia’s replacement.

Blunt also is up for re-election this year.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Republicans are looking back more than a century for guidance as they consider holding a Planned Parenthood official in contempt of the Senate.

A Senate panel is scheduled to consider proposals Tuesday that would summon regional Planned Parenthood CEO Mary Kogut to the Senate to explain why she has not complied with a subpoena.

Planned Parenthood has disputed the legitimacy of the Senate’s subpoena, saying it has already complied with an investigation by the attorney general.

The Missouri Constitution allows lawmakers to punish anyone found in contempt with a fine and ten days in jail. But the constitution does not list the steps lawmakers should take before enforcing those penalties.

Legislative researchers say the most recent contempt procedures they have found date to 1903.

FREEMAN, S.D. (AP) — TransCanada Corp. says the Keystone pipeline will likely remain shut down for the rest of the week while officials investigate an apparent oil spill in southeastern South Dakota.

Oil was discovered on a 300-square-foot area in a ditch near a Freeman-area pump station. About 100 workers are at the site removing soil and determining the location of the leak. A company spokesman says crews have found no pipeline damage. TransCanada hasn’t released the amount of oil or speculated on cleanup costs.

TransCanada says it has found no significant harm to the environment. State environmental officials are monitoring the cleanup.

The Keystone pipeline runs from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma, passing through the eastern Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.

Freeman is about 40 miles southwest of Sioux Falls.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Jackson County, Missouri, judge has declared a man seeking a city council seat in the suburb of Lee’s Summit ineligible because of a felony car theft conviction.

Circuit Judge James Kanatzar disqualified Franklin Tatro after a hearing Monday, a day before the election.

Kanatzar concluded that Tatro would be barred from being sworn in if elected.

The judge also ordered the county’s election board to not release any information showing the number of votes ultimately cast for Tatro. Tatro served four years in prison in the 1990s for stealing a car. Under state law, convicted felons can’t be elected or appointed to public office.

Tatro moved to Lee’s Summit in 2010. He says he hopes to have his criminal record expunged and run for office again.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo is repeatedly evading questions about whether he is mulling over a primary challenge to U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran.

Speculation has been fueled by an unusual and at times demeaning written statement Pompeo put out Monday.

The statement was about his Kansas colleague’s shifting positions on whether the Supreme Court nominee should have a hearing.

Pompeo says he never comments on campaign activities they are engaged in.

He told The Associated Press he did not realize the political speculation his written statement had generated until contacted by media outlets.

Moran says in an email that he is not surprised Pompeo has suggested he is not running for the U.S. Senate. Moran says he wouldn’t have expected him to run against him without the courtesy of a conversation.

FRONTENAC, Mo. (AP) — The happiest place in America is in St. Louis County, at least according to one evaluation.

Zippia, a San Francisco-based career-counseling service, says Frontenac is No. 1 on its list America’s happiest towns. Another St. Louis County town, Glendale, is No. 3, and Ladue is 39th.

The list only looked at cities with less than 10,000 residents.

Frontenac is an affluent suburb with a population of 3,500. Oak Hill, Tennessee, was second on the list.

Zippia found that characteristics promoting happiness include being well-educated, having a job, having a short commute to work, a low cost of living, having a family, and owning a home.

Here’s the top ten:
1. Frontenac, MO
2. Oak Hill, TN
3. Glendale, MO
4. Grimes, IA
5. New Albany, OH
6. Sherman, IL
7. Montana City, MT
8. Medina, WA
9. Forest, VA
10. Sugarcreek, OH

CATAWISSA, Mo. (AP) — Authorities in eastern Missouri’s Franklin County are investigating an explosion that heavily damaged a vacant cabin.

Sheriff Gary Toelke says no one was injured during the blast about 7 p.m. Sunday near Catawissa.

Toelke says authorities don’t yet know what caused the explosion.

But he says searchers of the damaged cabin found an explosive called Tannerite, a material that can be bought at sporting goods stores for target practice.

Toelke says the owner of the cabin, a Robertsville man, later was arrested after deputies with a search warrant for his home were denied access by him. The sheriff says suspected methamphetamine, other explosive materials and weapons were found there.