ORAN, Mo. (AP) — Authorities in the southeast Missouri town of Oran credit a dog with coming to the rescue of a child during a sexual assault, biting the alleged assailant until he stopped.

The Southeast Missourian reports that 55-year-old Richie Dock of Oran is charged with felony sexual abuse, sodomy and felonious restraint. He is jailed on $25,000 bond.

The Scott County Sheriff’s Department says detectives were called on Feb. 4 by a girl younger than 14, who reported Dock had assaulted her at his apartment by inappropriately touching her and exposing himself.

Authorities say the girl called her dog, who bit Dock, causing him to release the victim.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis hospital is seeing a surge of health problems related to use of synthetic marijuana.

KTVI-TV reports that Saint Louis University Hospital officials say more than 100 patients have been treated over the past two weeks for various illnesses caused by synthetic marijuana, which can cause strokes, heart attacks and kidney failure.

Doctors aren’t sure why the sudden spike is happening, but they’re worried it could eventually lead to deaths.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A top Kansas Department of Commerce official says plans aren’t firm for a development designed to lure the annual American Royal horse and livestock exhibition to Kansas from Kansas City, Missouri.

Deputy Secretary Steve Kelly told the Kansas Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday that plans for the Wyandotte County development have evolved and any discussion of it is speculative.

The Associated Press on Monday obtained a department report that said the development “is assumed” to have 15 elements that include a hotel, a children’s museum and 5,000-seat hockey arena.

Several committee members later said they believe plans for the development were firm.

The project’s future is uncertain. Some legislators want to block Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration from authorizing bonds backed by state sales tax revenues to help finance it.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Russia’s energy ministry says it has agreed with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela to freeze oil production levels if other producers do the same.

The ministry quoted Energy Minister Alexander Novak announcing the decision Tuesday following an unexpected, closed-door meeting involving the four countries in the Qatari capital, Doha.

He says the countries are willing to freeze output levels at January levels “if other oil producers join the initiative.”

Getting other producers to go along with that could be tricky. Prices have fallen sharply slump in prices since summer 2014, leaving producers scrambling to win market share from competitors.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Legislature has given final approval to legislation that would create a new circuit court in southeast Missouri.

The House voted 147-5 Monday to split the court covering Christian and Taney counties and the city of Branson. The Senate approved the measure in January. The bill now heads to Gov. Jay Nixon for his signature or veto.

Lawmakers from the area said a single court doesn’t have the capacity to serve the population of those two counties along with the millions of tourists who visit Branson each year. They said splitting the counties would help clear the area’s backlog of cases.

Last year, Nixon vetoed a bill that would’ve paid for more courthouses by raising court fees. Supporters said they removed fees from this bill to earn Nixon’s approval.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two Kansas legislators from different parties are suggesting that the state has mismanaged its two mental hospitals to justify turning them over to private companies to operate.

But one of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s top social services administrators told a House committee Monday that there’s nothing to the allegation.

Both Democratic Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita and Republican Rep. Scott Schwab of Olathe suggested the hospitals may have been deliberately mismanaged.

Secretary Tim Keck said the Department for Aging and Disability Services sees privatization as an option for Osawatomie State Hospital about 45 miles southwest of the Kansas City area, but not for Larned State Hospital in western Kansas.

Dozens of positions are open at each hospital, and the federal government decertified the Osawatomie Hospital in December.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas law enforcement would be required to file a missing person report within two hours under a bill approved by a Senate committee.

The measure that passed Monday in committee sets a specific time period in which the report must be provided to the National Crime Information Center and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Under current law, reports simply need to be entered “as soon as practical.”

Overland Park Republican Rep. Greg Smith is chairman of the Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee and wrote the current law, which went into effect in 2013. His daughter was abducted and killed in 2007.

The committee on Tuesday will debate changes on a bill that would overhaul the juvenile justice system.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A panel of House members has approved cutting a $12 million payment for the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

The House committee on Monday chopped next fiscal year’s annual payment, which helps pay off the football stadium.

Gov. Jay Nixon last year proposed extending payments to build a new stadium. The goal was to keep the Rams in St. Louis, but the team is moving to California.

Lawmakers criticized the proposal to take on debt without legislative or voter approval. The move to cut the $12 million payment is part of a feud between Nixon and lawmakers over stadium plans.

A Nixon spokeswoman says the governor is confident lawmakers will make next year’s payment.

The recommended spending cut needs additional House approval before it can head to the Senate.

DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto safety regulators have closed an investigation into air bag problems in some Kia small cars without seeking a recall.

In September, investigators began looking into problems in about 186,000 Spectra cars from 2007 through 2009. The agency and Kia received 163 complaints about failure of mats in the front passenger seats that detect whether a child is there. The devices turn off the air bags to prevent injuries.

But the mats could develop electrical problems that let the air bags inflate even if a child is present.

The government determined the failure rate was low for the cars’ age. Plus Kia extended the mat warranty to 15 years.

Kia will notify owners about the warranty and send them to dealers if a warning light comes on.