ELMIRA, N.Y. (AP) — Officials say a plaque stolen from author Mark Twain’s final resting place in an upstate New York cemetery is back where it belongs.

The 15-pound bronze plaque depicting Twain was stolen from Elmira’s Woodlawn Cemetery between late December 2014 and early January.

Thirty-three-year-old Daniel Ruland was sentenced last month to serve six months in prison for the theft.

Police say they don’t know Ruland’s motive and that there was no evidence the Elmira man tried to sell it. The plaque was valued at $3,000.

The plaque has been reinstalled on Twain’s 12-foot granite monument, which was damaged during the theft.

Twain wrote many of his famous works while summering in Elmira. He’s interred in the family plot of his wife, Olivia Langdon.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 24-year-old mother is in custody after her dirty, barefoot 4- and 6-year-old children were found living in a wooden shipping crate in an underground cave in Kansas City, Missouri.

The woman was charged Friday with two counts of felony child endangerment.

Jackson County detectives were serving a search warrant for an alleged stolen car operation in the caves on the city’s east side Thursday when they found the children, alone, in the 8-by-10-foot crate furnished with vehicle bench seats.

Prosecutors say the children were poorly clothed, barefoot and covered in dirt, and the younger one was eating from a cup of dry ramen noodles.

A spokesman for the Jackson County prosecutor’s office said Saturday he didn’t know if the woman has an attorney.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Authorities say there has been a sharp decline in the manufacture of methamphetamine in several Midwestern states that have had the most trouble with the drug, but it remains as popular as ever due to an influx of cheap Mexican imports.

Laws restricting the sale of an ingredient found in many cold medicines and key to making meth seem to have had their intended effect. The Drug Enforcement Administration doesn’t provide partial-year data on meth lab seizures, but drug fighters in several states that generally register the most meth lab busts say they’ve seen a startling decline.

Missouri is on pace for 40 percent fewer meth lab seizures this year, while Oklahoma’s are down 33 percent and Tennessee’s are down 48 percent.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis-area man is facing vehicle theft and burglary charges after allegedly stealing an ambulance from a hospital and breaking into a home.

Charges were filed Saturday against 36-year-old Mark Ferry of Arnold. He is jailed on $20,000 cash-only bond and does not yet have an attorney.

St. Louis County police were called to St. Anthony’s Hospital after reports that someone entered an ambulance and drove it away. A short time later, a woman called police to say an ambulance was parked on her driveway.

Officers went to the home and found the rear glass door of the residence shattered. Police say they found Ferry inside the home, with bags of clothing and medication bearing his name. The ambulance keys, police say, were in his pocket.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A task force examining problems at the Jackson County Detention Center is focusing primarily on work conditions such as mandatory overtime that might have led to inmate abuse.

County officials said last month that they had discovered four cases of guards using excessive force against prisoners who were restrained and posed no threat. The Kansas City Star reports the task force was formed at the same time.

The task force is looking into numerous problems at the jail, but mainly the effect of mandatory overtime hours forced upon guards at the facility in downtown Kansas City. Experts say long hours make prison guards more prone to abusing inmates.

County officials wouldn’t speculate on whether fatigue played a role in the alleged abuses, but acknowledged guards are overworked and underpaid.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A proposed wastewater dumping site in western Nebraska is prompting lawmakers to take a new look at the state’s oil and natural gas regulations, which opponents say are too lax.

The Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee will meet in Sidney on Sept. 22 to hear comments about a little-known state commission that approved a controversial disposal well requested by a Colorado energy company.

Sens. John Stinner of Gering and Ken Haar of Malcolm have both launched research studies to examine the state’s regulations and the role of the Nebraska Oil and Conservation Commission. Haar says he’s concerned that the commission is both a regulator and industry cheerleader.

Commission Executive Director Bill Sydow says the agency is independent, and all of its decisions can be overturned by the courts.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Developers are planning a 276-unit apartment complex in Kansas City that they say will use only about 10 percent of the energy used in a comparable building.

The complex, called Second and Delaware, is scheduled for construction on the Missouri riverfront just north of downtown.

The Kansas City Star reports national experts say the $60 million project will be the largest U.S. multifamily apartment complex using construction certified by the Passive House Institute.

Construction will include 16-inch-thick walls that sandwich insulation between concrete panels. Proponents say the method saves large amounts of energy and is capable of withstanding all types of severe weather.

Excavation is scheduled to begin next month. If all goes as planned, tenants could begin moving in by February 2017.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The suburban St. Louis president of a defense contractor faces up to 20 years in federal prison now that he has admitted defrauding the U.S. government.

Forty-five-year-old James Matthew Alexander pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony count of mail fraud.

The charge also carries a possible $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 10.

Authorities say that in 2010, St. Louis-based Matthews Manufacturing Inc. was awarded a contract to supply 56 containers used to ship parts for the F/A-18 Super Hornet. Alexander was president of Matthews Manufacturing.

The containers included shock mounts that were supposed to be no more than a year old. But prosecutors say Alexander had the dates on the mounts buffed off and re-stamped with a more recent date.

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. (AP) — A southeast Missouri teacher isn’t letting a bite from a poisonous snake keep her off the job.

The Poplar Bluff Daily American Republic reports that Katelyn Campa recovered quickly after being bitten by a copperhead snake on Sept. 2. In fact, she was back in class the next day. She used the incident as an opportunity to teach her Poplar Bluff fifth-graders about snakes and snake safety.

Campa had been working late and walked outside to meet a friend, who was bringing her supplies.

As she opened a back door of the school for her friend, Campa was bitten on the toe by a small copperhead. She was treated at a hospital and released that night. Her principal couldn’t persuade her to take the next day off.

PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — Supporters of a stalled southeast Kansas casino are urging backers of the project to attend commission meetings in a county whose lawsuit prompted the delay.  The Kansas Lottery picked Kansas Crossing to run a state-owned casino in Pittsburg in Crawford County.

The $70 million project was selected despite being half the size of a $145 million Castle Rock Casino proposal in Cherokee County.

The Joplin Globe reports Cherokee County and Castle Rock sued, causing construction of the Crawford County casino to be temporarily halted.

Kansas Crossing supporters sent fliers to Cherokee County residents urging them to voice their displeasure to county officials for causing local governments to lose $970 a day in gambling revenue.

Cherokee County Commissioner Pat Collins says the commission won’t be swayed by the effort.