TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Children and Families says it will not prevent single adults from serving as foster parents for abused and neglected children.

Agency spokeswoman Theresa Freed said Friday that the department has never considered excluding single adults from being foster parents just because they are single.

Freed first discussed the agency’s position in an Associated Press interview. The department did not issue a public statement.

Freed says the department isn’t making any statement about its position on legally married same-sex couples serving together as foster parents.

Before the U.S. Supreme Court last month legalized same-sex marriage, Kansas allowed gays and lesbians to serve as foster parents as single adults.

Questions have arisen about the department’s plans because it is reviewing foster care policies.

GRINNELL, Iowa (AP) — The mother of a Grinnell College student slain nearly 23 years ago says she’s trying to remain optimistic that investigators will solve the case.

Twenty-one-year-old Tammy Jo Zywicki’s body was found in September 1992 near Springfield, Missouri, a month after her car was found in Illinois. She’d been driving back to the central Iowa school from her New Jersey home.

Her mother, JoAnn Zywicki, told the Iowa City Press-Citizen that she’d been hopeful since enlisting the aid of the Philadelphia-based Vidocq Society, which is known for its interest in cold cases. But she says budget cuts are making it difficult for the investigation to progress in Illinois.

Illinois State Patrol Master Sgt. Jeff Padilla says the budget hasn’t been cut and that the Zywicki case remains a high priority.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey says he is resigning from office to return to the private sector and spend more time with his family.

Dempsey tells The Associated Press his resignation will take effect Aug. 7.

The Republican from St. Charles first was elected to the House in 2000 and has served in the Senate since 2007.

He is the fifth Missouri lawmaker to resign in the past year. But Dempsey says his departure is unrelated to recent scandals involving colleagues. Last week, Democratic Sen. Paul LeVota said he would resign while denying allegations he sexually harassed interns. In May, Republican House Speaker John Diehl resigned after exchanging sexually suggestive text messages with an intern.

Dempsey said he hopes to announce his new private-sector job soon.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Democrat and former county prosecutor Teresa Hensley says she’s running for Missouri attorney general.

Hensley announced her candidacy Thursday, the same day Democratic state Sen. Scott Sifton dropped out of the race to seek re-election in the Senate.

Hensley now works at a law office in Raymore. She previously served as Cass County prosecutor until she lost a re-election bid last year.

Hensley’s entrance into the attorney general’s race likely will mean a Democratic primary with St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman.

The attorney general’s position will be open next year because Democratic incumbent Chris Koster has said he plans to run for governor.

Two Republicans also have announced their candidacies for attorney general.

Republicans Sen. Kurt Schaefer of Columbia and Columbia attorney Josh Hawley also are running.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Attorneys for a southwestern Missouri woman accused of fatally poisoning her husband and a son with antifreeze want a judge to toss out her videotaped statements to investigators.

Diane Staudte appeared in a Greene County courtroom Thursday for a hearing over defense claims an investigator wrongly continued to interrogate her in 2013 after she asked whether she should have an attorney.

A judge didn’t immediately decide the matter, continuing the hearing to Aug. 29.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Staudte for the April 2012 death of husband Mark Staudte and the September 2012 demise of son Shawn Staudte. She’s also accused of poisoning a daughter, who survived.

Another of Diane Staudte’s daughters, Rachel Staudte, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and has agreed to testify against her mother.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A lawyer for a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper, who criticized the agency after a handcuffed man fell from a patrol boat and drowned, said it’s a conflict for state Attorney General Chris Koster to represent police in a personnel matter involving his client.

The patrol said last month it was demoting Randy Henry to corporal. The Kansas City Star reports that he remains a sergeant pending his appeal.

Koster is representing several patrol members in a lawsuit related to the drowning of Brandon Ellingson. Because Henry is a witness for the plaintiffs, attorney Chet Pleban claims Koster’s office is “representing everybody who is at odds” with Henry.

Pleban has filed a conflict-of interest motion to a patrol review board, which will recommend whether the discipline should stand.

Koster’s office has denied any conflict of interest.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man has been arrested for allegedly threatening to storm the Sedgwick County Courthouse and kill law enforcement officers if a man on trial for murder was found guilty.

Sheriff Jeff Easter said at a news conference Thursday that the comments were part of an exchange on Facebook that discussed entering the courtroom while armed. Authorities say the comments were in reference to the trial of Kyler Carriker.

Carriker was on trial for the 2013 shooting death of Ronald Betts during a marijuana deal. Carriker was found not guilty Thursday afternoon.

Easter said several people reported the online comments to law enforcement and additional security was placed at the courthouse.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal appeals court has tossed a Nebraska man’s sentence for shooting a pair of protected birds last year near Macy.

Lamar Bertucci has spent the past five months in prison for shooting an eagle and a rough-legged hawk.

A federal judge has set Bertucci’s resentencing for August 12th.

Bertucci pleaded guilty to killing the birds, but had disputed the $10,000 value that a federal probation officer put on the eagle.

The officer, who prepared Bertucci’s presentence report, relied on testimony from a Virginia-based wildlife expert, who estimated the replacement cost of the eagle.

The bird’s worth mattered to Bertucci because the amount of the loss can dictate the length of a sentence. He was sentenced last year to eight months in prison.