PHOENIX (AP) — A man wanted in Nebraska in connection with a fatal shooting last weekend has been arrested in Arizona.

U.S. Marshals Service officials say 53-year-old Michael Nolt was taken into custody Tuesday night in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa.

They say Nolt was seen allegedly buying ammunition at a store and Violent Offender Task Force members had to use a stun gun on him before he was arrested.

According to the Omaha Police Department, two people were shot and killed in a home early Saturday morning. Officers found Malquan King, 26, and Arelius Hassell, 23, dead inside the home around 2 a.m. They also found a woman, Tommynique Valentine, 25, who was treated for a gunshot wound and later released from Nebraska Medicine.

Nolt allegedly was involved in a verbal altercation with several people at a party last Saturday and allegedly shot three people.

Federal authorities say Nolt has an extensive criminal record with previous arrests for fraud, strangulation and battery.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Republican lawmakers are brainstorming potential changes to abortion laws, including additional oversight and an idea that there should be memorials for aborted fetuses. House committee members Wednesday floated ways to revamp state policy after reviewing abortion practices in Missouri for months.

Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster and House and Senate committees launched investigations into Planned Parenthood this summer. The reviews followed the release of undercover videos by anti-abortion activists showing officials from the organization discussing the transfer of fetal tissue.

Koster says he found no evidence that a St. Louis Planned Parenthood sells fetal tissue. But GOP House committee leaders say they want to tighten regulations.

Policy ideas included one from GOP Representative Rick Brattin to create a “Vietnam Wall-type” memorial for aborted fetuses.

MCPHERSON, Kan. (AP) — A federal agreement requires a Kansas pharmaceutical plant accused of gender discrimination to pay about $400,000 in back wages and hire more women. The U.S. Department of Labor says the Hospira plant in McPherson was accused of hiring a smaller percentage of women than men for pharmacy attendant positions in 2012.

The Hutchinson News reports that Hospira doesn’t admit any liability in the settlement and says it believes plant hiring practices have been fair.

The Labor Department says Hospira received applications for pharmacy attendant positions from 160 women, of whom 15 were hired. The company also received 199 applicants from men, of whom 45 were hired.

Hospira will hire 11 more women and pay $400,000 in back wages and interest to women denied jobs.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State University has received permission to change the name of its Salina campus to emphasize its concentration on technical education and hands-on learning.

The Kansas Board of Regents agreed Wednesday to allow Kansas State University Salina to become the Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus.

The university said in a news release that the switch takes effect immediately.

Offerings at the five-decade old campus include an aviation program. Kansas State president Kirk Schulz said in a written statement that the polytechnic identity aligns with the “teaching and research mission” of the university.

The name-change request was reviewed by councils made up of academic vice presidents and CEOs of state universities.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The FBI says two underage victims have been rescued and three pimps arrested in the Omaha area as part of a nationwide crackdown on human trafficking.

In all, the FBI said Tuesday, 21 people were arrested in Omaha as part of the Operation Cross Country IX. The effort was led by the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

 

The FBI says the national sting was conducted in 135 cities. Altogether, authorities rescued 149 minors and arrested 153 pimps.

The Omaha Police Department, Douglas County Sheriff’s Department and various other local departments in the Omaha area worked as part of the task force in the effort.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — An Illinois man has pleaded guilty to charges related to a four-year fraud scheme and assaulting the Secret Service agents who arrested him.

Jason Cripe, formerly of Windsor, Illinois, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to one count of wire fraud and one count of assaulting a law enforcement officer. Sentencing is January 13th.

Federal prosecutors say Cripe claimed to have repossessed vehicles and commercial equipment for sale from 2011 to this year. He took deposits from buyers but never delivered the products.

A warrant was issued for his arrest and Secret Service agents confronted him in St. Louis County on July 8th. Prosecutors say Cripe fought the agents and rammed his car into theirs.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican U.S. Senator Roy Blunt says he hauled in nearly $1.3 million in contributions during the past three months as he builds toward an expected re-election campaign.  Blunt’s campaign released a summary of its fundraising Wednesday, a day before federal reports are due.

His likely Democratic challenger, Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, said last week that he raised more than $825,000 from July through September.

All told, Blunt has nearly $4.4 million in the bank for a 2016 campaign. That’s close to three times as much as Kander, who has nearly $1.6 million.

But Blunt also is spending more than Kander. Blunt’s campaign had disbursements of $737,000 this past quarter, compared with Kander’s $360,000.

Candidacy filing for the 2016 elections does not officially open until next February.

LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — A man thought driving a van loaded with ammunition over a garbage fire in western Missouri would be a good way to extinguish the blaze.  He was wrong.

Clay County Sheriff’s spokesman Jon Bazzano told a deputy saw a van burning in a field outside Liberty on Tuesday and heard live ammunition going off. The deputy also found the vehicle owner nearby watching the fire.

The owner had been burning garbage when the fire got out of control. He tried to put the fire out by driving the van over the flames, but the van tires ignited, sending him scurrying because his vehicle was loaded with firearms ammunition and a tank of gas.

Firefighters controlled the fire.

The man wasn’t immediately cited for any violations.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has used new power granted to his office by legislators this year to charge three voters with illegally casting ballots while voting in another state.

Meanwhile, those same new rules have resulted in the culling of more than six thousand incomplete voter registrations rejected at the polls.

Details of two cases filed by Kobach’s office in the Kansas City area’s Johnson County and one in northwest Kansas’ Sherman County became public Tuesday. They were filed late Friday. Kobach’s office filed 10 criminal charges in Sherman County against 64-year-old Lincoln L. Wilson. Officials in Kansas and Colorado said Wilson voted in both in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

In Johnson County, Kobach’s office filed three misdemeanor charges each against 61-year-old Steven K. Gaedtke, and his 61-year-old wife, Betty. Election officials said they voted in both Kansas and Arkansas in 2010. None of the defendants immediately returned telephone messages.

Kansas has seen its number of incomplete voter registrations decline by nearly 6,700 in less than two weeks as counties follow a directive from Secretary Kobach to cull their records.

Kobach’s office said Tuesday that the state had about 31,000 incomplete registrations as of Tuesday, compared to about 37,700 when the Republican secretary of state’s directive took effect on Oct. 2. The decline is nearly 18 percent.

Most incomplete registrations are for people who’ve failed to comply with a 2013 law requiring new voters to provide proof of their U.S. citizenship when registering.

Kobach imposed a new rule requiring county election officials to cancel registrations that are incomplete for more than 90 days.

He contends the proof-of-citizenship requirement prevents election fraud. Critics say it suppresses turnout.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A coal-fired power plant owned by a suburban Kansas City utility is on standby as Independence Power and Light officials decide what to do with the aging facility.

IPL switched its larger Blue Valley plant to natural gas this summer ahead of federal emissions regulations going into place early next year. But company spokesman Leon Daggett says its Missouri City plant would cost too much to convert.

The Independence Examiner reports a consultant estimated it would cost the utility $925,000 to decommission the plant and more than $17 million to dismantle it.

Daggett says converting the plant to burn either natural gas or biomass would be considerably more expensive than that.