HOUSTON (AP) — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. dropped 9 this week to 480, a record low and another sign of continuing price woes in the oil and gas industry.

Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 386 rigs sought oil and 94 explored for natural gas. A year ago, 1,125 rigs were active.

Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas lost 12 rigs, Oklahoma lost three, New Mexico lost two and North Dakota and Ohio lost one.

Louisiana and Pennsylvania each gained three rigs, Kansas gained two and California and Utah each gained one.

Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, West Virginia and Wyoming all were unchanged.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It previously bottomed out at 488 in 1999.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A major U.S. bank has given a presentation to Kansas finance officials on securitizing the state’s future tobacco settlement money.

The presentation by Citigroup has raised concerns among child advocates who say selling the future settlement payments to raise cash for the budget deficit would hurt the state’s early childhood system.

A copy of the 26-page Citigroup presentation, provided to The Topeka Capital-Journal by Kansas Action for Children, said Citigroup, “pioneered the tobacco bond market” and shows which states have securitized.

Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley on Thursday said the meeting with Citigroup last October was attended by officials with the Kansas Development Finance Authority and Brownback’s budget director. She says there’s no deal or pending legislation to sell tobacco settlement money.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Three people have been charged with robbing a suburban Kansas City bank with a toddler in the getaway vehicle.

Eighteen-year-old Jacob Smith, 39-year-old Gary Jordan and 26-year-old Danille Morris were charged Thursday with bank robbery and brandishing firearms during a robbery. Their attorneys didn’t’ immediately return phone messages from The Associated Press.

Federal court documents say Jordan and Smith were armed when they held up the Stilwell bank Wednesday. Morris is accused of waiting outside in the getaway sport utility vehicle with her 19-month-old daughter.

The three Kansas City, Kansas, suspects are accused of fleeing into Missouri with law enforcement in pursuit before wrecking the SUV. Smith is accused of firing shots during the pursuit and Jordan of trying to carjack another vehicle after the wreck. The toddler wasn’t hurt.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is calling on the Senate to reverse proposed budget cuts to the University of Missouri that passed the House this week.

Nixon on Friday also criticized the House for setting aside less money for K-12 education and higher education performance funding than he asked for. He said lawmakers are prioritizing tax breaks over students.

The House budget cuts more than $8 million from the University of Missouri system and its Columbia campus.

Nixon said the University of Missouri’s administration has gone to great lengths to address concerns raised after November’s protests, and the House’s proposal would result in students paying higher tuition and fees.

House Speaker Todd Richardson has said the cuts target administrators, so there is no reason students should be affected.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State health officials say an adult from southwest Kansas has the state’ first confirmed case of the Zika virus.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said in announcing the case Friday that the person had traveled to a county with “local Zika virus transmission.” The department said confirmation came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No other details were provided.

Health officials say the virus is mainly transmitted by a specific type of mosquito and most people who get the disease have no symptoms.

Others with the Zika virus suffer from fever, rash, joint pain and pink eye.

Health officials are investigating whether the virus is linked to birth defects in the children of women who caught the virus while pregnant.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — As most Americans brace themselves for losing an hour of sleep this weekend, some lawmakers are proposing bold alternatives for New England and elsewhere.

Lawmakers from California to Kansas are considering bills to abolish daylight saving time.

Bills in Rhode Island and Massachusetts go even further by proposing secession from the Eastern time zone.

Rhode Island state Rep. Blake Filippi, a Block Island independent, made a public health case for his bill at a Wednesday hearing.

New England has some of the country’s earliest winter sunsets.

The legislation calls for following Massachusetts if it moves one hour east into the Atlantic Time Zone that encompasses Nova Scotia and Puerto Rico.

Maine also previously considered the idea.

It would have the same effect as making summertime daylight saving hours permanent.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri Senate committee has considered a bill that would allow public colleges and universities to launch a new post-graduate degree program without approval from another school.

The Jefferson City News Tribune reports that the Senate Education Committee considered the bill Wednesday. Under the proposed law, universities would still have to get approval from the state Coordinating Board for Higher Education to launch a new master’s or doctorate degree program.

The bill would also end a 2005 agreement that stopped a more than 17-hour filibuster against a bill changing the names of various higher education institutions, including Southwest Missouri State University to Missouri State University.

President Cliff Smart testified that the agreement placed restrictions on Missouri State as the University of Missouri is the only university generally authorized to deliver doctoral programs.

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) — A judge in Mexico has ordered a man to stand trial in the death of a Missouri woman in the Caribbean resort city of Playa del Carmen.

A prosecutor’s office employee said Thursday the judge ordered John Loveless to stand trial for allegedly killing his girlfriend Tamra Turpin of the St. Louis suburb of Union. The employee was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The woman was found dead last week in a condo the couple had rented, and a forensic examination concluded she died of asphyxia by strangulation.

Loveless told the woman’s sister that Turpin overdosed on prescription medications during a suicide attempt after an argument.

According to the prosecutors’ office in Quintana Roo state, where both Playa del Carmen and Cancun are located, Loveless faces charges of criminal homicide.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s attorney general says a Mexican national accused of killing one man in that state and four others in Kansas will be prosecuted first in Missouri.

Attorney General Chris Koster said Thursday that his office has been asked by Montgomery County’s district attorney to assist in Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino’s prosecution on a first-degree murder count related to the killing Tuesday of 49-year-old Randy Nordman.

Serrano-Vitorino is also charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the Monday killing of his neighbor and three other men at his neighbor’s home in Kansas City, Kansas. A spokesman for that county’s prosecutor says he’s unaware of any arrangement between the two states involving Serrano-Vitorino’s prosecution.

But a Koster spokeswoman, Nanci Goder, tells The Associated Press that “we intend to keep him in the state of Missouri through the trial.”

ST. LOUIS (AP) — One restaurant chain known for its bread products is suing another, alleging federal trademark infringement for use of what it calls a confusingly similar advertising slogan.

Great Harvest Bread Co. filed suit Thursday in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina, against Panera Bread. The suit, filed on behalf of Great Harvest’s more than 200 owner-operated stores, says it received a trademark in October 2014 for the mantra: “Bread. The Way it ought to be.”

But the lawsuit claims that suburban St. Louis-based Panera debuted its “Food as it should be” advertising campaign just eight months later. Great Harvest, based in Dillon, Montana, says the Panera campaign intentionally causes confusion.

The Associated Press left messages seeking comment from a Panera representative Thursday.