ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is ordering surface fire prevention measures at a St. Louis-area landfill where nuclear waste was illegally dumped in 1973.  The order announced Thursday follows a grass fire that occurred at West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton in October.

The order requires companies associated with West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton to clear trees and brush and place noncombustible material on the surface, among other steps.

The October 24th brush fire was blamed on a faulty utility pole. The EPA found no evidence the fire created any hazard for nearby homes or businesses.

Meanwhile, an underground fire smoldering for years is no more than 1,200 feet away at the adjoining Bridgeton Landfill.

The EPA is requiring a written plan within three weeks.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill has donated $10,000 to help interns facing sexual harassment.

McCaskill on Thursday said she recently gave the money to the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence to provide interns with information about how to deal with harassment.

The senator called for outside resources following claims that a state senator sexually harassed interns. She says a hotline, for example, would be useful.

McCaskill has said she faced sexual harassment when she interned at the Capitol in Jefferson City.

Matthew Huffman of the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence says McCaskill’s donation will be seed money for a panel of college and university representatives collaborating on how to best help interns. He says they hope to have a plan by April 2016.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita State University student who died after trying to stop a suicide bomber in Saudi Arabia will receive an honorary degree.  Wichita State officials announced Thursday that 22-year-old Abduljaleel Alarbash also will have a room in Jabara Hall on the college campus named for him.  Alarbash, an electrical engineering student, was killed in May when he tried to stop the suicide bomber from entering a mosque in his native Saudi Arabia.

He was in that country to be married and planned to return to Wichita to continue his education.

His posthumous degree will be awarded during Wichita State’s fall commencement ceremony Sunday.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka city council member denies allegations that he physically abused his 12-year-old son.

Councilman Jonathan Schumm denied the accusations in answers filed by his attorney, Thomas Lemon, to a petition seeking to have Schumm removed from his post. The councilman and his wife have been charged with aggravated battery, or the alternative charge of abuse of a child, for incidents that reportedly happened in October.

Both were booked into jail on November 20th, and posted bond on the same day.

Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor and senior assistant district attorney Todd Hiatt filed a civil action in November to suspend Schumm as a city councilman, and then to oust him from office. They cited the alleged violence in the filing.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City Aviation report says building a new terminal would be less expensive than renovating Kansas City International Airport.  The department told the Kansas City Council Thursday that a new single terminal would cost about $964 million.

Renovations were estimated to cost between $1.04 billion and $1.19 billion.

City officials have repeatedly said any improvements at the airport will not be paid through general taxpayer dollars. The airport is funded by passenger ticket fees, parking revenues, concessions, grants and other special revenues.

City residents will eventually vote on any proposed changes at the airport.  The council is not expected to make any recommendations on the airport’s future for several months.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Sedgwick County jury has recommended a Hard 50 prison sentence for a Wichita man in the abuse death of his 17-month-old daughter.

The jury made the recommendation in the case of 30-year-old Jonell Lloyd, who attacked his daughter, Chavira Brown, in July 2008 for wetting her pants.

Prosecutors say he beat and choked the girl, tied her in plastic bags and left her in an attic to die.

Lloyd was sentenced by a judge in 2009 to life in prison with no parole for 50 year. He was resentenced after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that jurors, not judges, must determine if a Hard 50 sentence is warranted.

Lloyd will be formally sentenced December 17th.

SPARTA, Mo. (AP) — A southwest Missouri police chief has resigned after killing a caged pit bull so he could respond to a car crash.

Sparta Mayor Mike Younker says Police Chief Andrew Spencer submitted his resignation. The Springfield News-Leader that Spencer was placed on administrative leave in late November.

A police report says a resident told Spencer earlier this month that the dog was roaming the streets, and he feared the animal would hurt children. Pit bulls are prohibited in Sparta.

The report says Spencer caught the dog, but was unable to find a shelter that would take the animal. While attempting to find a veterinarian to euthanize the dog, Spencer was dispatched to a rollover crash. The report says Spencer responded after killing the dog at the department’s shooting range.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Federal grand jurors have indicted a former teacher’s assistant at a southwest Missouri elementary school on child pornography charges.

The U.S. attorney’s office says 19-year-old Dalton Cole Sherman, of Buffalo, was charged in a three-count indictment returned Wednesday. The Springfield News-Leader reports that Sherman was a teacher’s assistant at the DA Mallory Elementary School in Buffalo at the time of the alleged offense. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

Federal prosecutors said in a news release that Sherman used two minors, on two separate occasions to produce child pornography.

The federal indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Sherman to forfeit to the government any property used to commit the alleged offenses, including a Samsung pen camera and a Nook tablet.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Federal investigators say they’ve been alerted about a small number of men suspiciously buying dozens of prepaid, disposable cellphones from Walmart stores in three Missouri cities.

The purchases last weekend in Columbia, Lebanon and Macon raised red flags because such cell phones, often called “burners,” frequently are discarded in an effort to avoid detection. And such phones can be used as bomb detonators.

It’s not clear if the same men are suspected of making all of the questioned purchases. But two who bought roughly 60 phones early last Saturday in southwestern Missouri’s Lebanon were questioned by police and released.

An FBI spokeswoman, Bridget Patton, says it’s not uncommon that local law enforcers contact that agency if they deem something suspicious. But Patton isn’t saying if the FBI is formally investigating.