SMITHTON, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a mid-Missouri teenager who went missing has been found safe, and a reported registered sex offender from New York who may have been with her has been arrested.

The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office had been searching for the 14-year-old girl from Smithton after she was reported missing about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, along with the family’s 2004 GMC Yukon. The town is about 150 miles west of St. Louis, between Jefferson City and Kansas City.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the teenager was found Wednesday, though details weren’t available.

Police suspected the girl may have gone with the sex offender, who was arrested Wednesday in Pettis County, Missouri.

There was no immediate word about any charges.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — New federal indictments accuse a fifth person and add more charges against the previous four defendants in an alleged contraband-smuggling scheme at the county jail in Kansas City, Missouri.

A criminal complaint had accused Jackson County Detention Center corrections officers Andrew Dickerson and Jalee Fuller, inmate Carlos Hughley, and Fuller and Hughley’s friend Janikkia Carter of one count of telephone use to further unlawful activity.

But a new indictment Tuesday accuses the four of conspiracy and now accuses Carter and Hughley of three counts each of the unlawful telephone use counts. The indictment added Marion Byers — another Fuller and Hughley acquaintance — and charges him with two telephone-related counts.

A separate indictment accuses Dickerson of conspiracy and three more counts involving telephone use to further criminal activity.

AVA, Mo. (AP) — A southern Missouri father and son have been indicted in a relative’s shooting death that authorities said stemmed from a family feud.

The Missouri attorney general’s office announced Tuesday that 66-year-old James “Lee” Aborn, of Ava, faces charges of second degree murder, assault and armed crimination action in the death of his brother, 57-year-old John Aborn, and the wounding of another man. Forty-nine-year-old David Aborn, is charged with acting with his father to commit second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase said after the January shooting that there was an “ongoing feud” and that authorities had responded to both brothers’ homes numerous times.

Lee Aborn’s attorney, Roger Wall, said Wednesday that the shooting was self-defense and that his client shot his brother to save his son.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s unemployment rate has dropped slightly.

The state’s Economic Development Department announced Tuesday that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate went down from 3.9 percent in May to 3.8 percent in June.

Unemployment had been holding steady at 3.9 percent from March through May.

Data also show Missouri gained 11,900 jobs from May to June. The change in nonfarm employment came as the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force fell by more than 21,000 people in that same time period. The labor force counts people with jobs and those who are on unemployment but looking for work.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran is a Republican stalwart who had a reputation for caution before he helped torpedo the latest Senate GOP plan for overhauling health care.

Moran announced his opposition to the measure along with Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a tea party favorite. Without enough GOP votes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell abandoned the bill.

Moran was in a national spotlight Tuesday.

He called on Congress to “start fresh” with a more open process and on Tuesday endorsed repealing Obama’s signature 2010 Affordable Care Act before replacing it.

He says that he wanted to protect rural hospitals.

Moran has political latitude. Kansas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932. He is not on the ballot again until 2022 and isn’t likely to face a serious challenger.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri is bracing for a potentially dangerous round of summer heat.

The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning or watch for much of the state. In St. Louis, the high temperature is expected to reach the upper-90s Tuesday and 100 degrees Wednesday through Saturday. High humidity will make it feel even worse.

Kansas City also is expected to top 100 degrees later this week.

Friends and relatives are encouraged to check on the elderly. Those without air-conditioning are encouraged to go someplace that has it.

Authorities also warn that pets and children should not be left unattended in cars, even briefly.

The hot spell is expected to break next week, when the forecast generally calls for highs in the low 90s.

O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — An eastern Missouri man is facing animal abuse charges for allegedly using a pocket knife to gut his pet cat and cut off its head.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 30-year-old Brian Wilson was charged with a misdemeanor count on July 10. He does not yet have an attorney.

Court records say the crime happened in May. Wilson is accused of killing his cat at his apartment by using a pocket knife to cut open the abdomen and expose its organs, before slicing off the animal’s head.

Authorities say Wilson was on drugs at the time and was seen running through a park wearing only a bath towel and covered in the cat’s blood.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City-area businesswoman has been ordered to spend a year and a half in federal prison for lying about her Cayman Islands interests used in a scheme to hide millions of dollars in secret offshore accounts.

Sixty-six-year-old Verna Cheryl Womack of Mission Hills, Kansas, was sentenced Monday in Kansas City, Missouri. On Monday, she paid the $1.7 million in taxes that her attorneys and the U.S. government agreed she owed.

Womack pleaded guilty last year to a count of attempting to interfere with the administration of U.S. internal revenue laws. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dropped nine other counts.

Court documents allege that Womack failed to report her offshore holdings as required by law in an effort to hide more than $6 million in income.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri System has closed its $10 million medical research institute as part of an effort to cut costs.

University spokesman Christian Basi tells the Columbia Missourian that the decision to close the International Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine will affect 17 full-time and part-time employees through layoffs and contract non-renewals.

The institute studied how to apply nanotechnology to fighting diseases. The university expects to save about $1.5 million annually with its closing. Basi says the building will likely to be used as a research facility.

The school is still recovering from students protest in fall 2015 over the administration’s handling of racial issues and the subsequent resignations of the system president and chancellor of the Columbia campus. Freshman enrollment subsequently dropped.

the more than $114,000 in fines he has been assessed for allegedly violating campaign finance laws, blaming the supposed misconduct on the theft of his debit card and campaign computer.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the Missouri Ethics Commission concluded Democratic state Rep. Courtney Curtis of Berkeley kept at least 11 bank accounts for his re-election fund, potentially allowing him to use some donations for personal use.

The commission said Curtis accepted cash donations exceeding state limits, deposited campaign contributions into a personal account and used campaign funds to pay for items already covered by the state.

Curtis told The Associated Press he chose not to settle the matter, and that “I’d still rather correct the record.”