LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — In 2008, for the first time in 44 years, red-state Nebraska awarded one of its Electoral College votes to the Democratic presidential candidate. Aghast Republican Party leaders decided they wouldn’t let it happen again.

They redrew the boundaries so the congressional district that favored Barack Obama would take in more GOP voters.

Such gerrymandering is typical throughout the country, but now a number of Republicans are joining with Democrats to back an idea that’s almost unthinkable in most of the U.S. They’re supporting a bill that would shift political map drawing to a new independent commission.

Although it could reduce Republican control, Republican Senator Bob Krist says the change could help the GOP if growth in urban and Hispanic voters eventually gives Democrats the advantage.

HESSTON, Kan. (AP) — A sheriff says the police officer who shot and killed a gunman who was attacking the central Kansas factory where he worked is a “tremendous hero.”

Authorities say the attacker shot and wounded three people before storming into the factory, where he shot 15 others, killing three of them, before the officer killed him.  Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton says there were still hundreds in the factory and that “the shooter wasn’t done by any means.”

Walton said Friday that had the Hesston police officer not killed the man during the Thursday evening attack at the Excel Industries lawnmower parts plant, it “would be a whole lot more tragic.”

He says there were still 200 or 300 other people in the factory and that “the shooter wasn’t done by any means.”

Walton didn’t identify the officer or the attacker.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri has fired an assistant professor who was suspended after run-ins with student journalists during protests last year on the Columbia campus.

Top administrators announced Melissa Click’s dismissal on Thursday.

Click was suspended after she was videotaped calling for “some muscle” to remove a student videographer from protests in November that were spurred by what activists said was administrators’ indifference to racial issues.

More recently, police body camera footage from the October homecoming parade shows Click telling police to get their hands off students and cursing at an officer who grabbed her shoulder.

Click has said she regretted her actions.

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a teenager who was fatally shot by police in a Kansas City suburb had left a suicide note inside a home where he told police someone was trying to break in.

Blue Springs police say they got a call shortly before 5 a.m. Wednesday about a possible burglary in progress. When they arrived officers found a person matching the suspect description holding a knife.

Police say the 16-year-old boy charged at officers with a knife and was fatally shot. They say the suicide note in the home indicated he planned to create a confrontation with police and had made the initial 911 call.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the teen’s name is not being released because he is a juvenile.

HILLSBORO, Mo. (AP) — A St. Louis-area man is accused of repeatedly stabbing a man who got in front of him at a convenience store’s soda fountain machine.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that prosecutors in Jefferson County charged 32-year-old Bennie Hornbeck of Hillsboro with felony first-degree assault.

Investigators say Hornbeck was at a convenience store near De Soto on Tuesday when he became angered that a man walked in front of him at a soda machine.

Court documents allege that Hornbeck pulled a fixed-blade knife from his picked and stabbed the victim five times, including on his head.

The victim’s medical status was not immediately clear.

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

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A southwest Missouri midwife who oversaw a home birth attempt in which a baby died has pleaded guilty to two felonies.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that 58-year-old Elaine Diamond agreed to five years of probation Wednesday after pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and unauthorized practice of medicine.

The Greene County prosecutor’s office said in a news release that she is prohibited from being a midwife during her probation.

The release says Diamond allowed a Springfield mother to labor for more than 48 hours and refused requests to take her to the hospital. When the family insisted on going to the hospital, an emergency physician delivered the baby in the parking lot.

The baby suffered severe brain damage and died less than a week later.

RAYTOWN, Mo. (AP) — Police say a man held a sword to the necks of two people at a Missouri gas station before leading officers on a slow-speed chase that ended when the U-Haul he was driving crashed into a suburban Kansas City church.

Raytown police received a report at 4:19 a.m. Thursday of a man brandishing a sword. He fled in a U-Haul and led officers on a 40-minute chase that ended when he crashed into a Raytown church.

Police say the man got out of the truck and was shot with a stun gun after failing to comply with officers’ orders.

He was found carrying 20 weapons, including knives, a sword and a blowgun.

Police say a woman and four children found in the cab of the truck were family members.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say an Independence police officer has been injured in a shooting at a motel.

Police say the officer responded to a disturbance call at the Deluxe Inn Wednesday night. Officer John Syme said that someone in a room at the motel fired a shot, which struck the officer. The officer, whose identity has not been released, was taken to a hospital with an injury that is not considered to be life-threatening.

A suspect was arrested in connection to the shooting.