TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators have blocked a state audit of the Kansas foster care system even though several of them acknowledged they have concerns about how it operates.

A legislative committee that directs the work of state auditors voted 5-4 Wednesday against initiating a review of the foster care system sought by two Democrats. The no votes came from Republicans who noted that other reviews of the system already are planned.

Democratic Reps. Ed Trimmer of Winfield and Jim Ward of Wichita wanted auditors to examine whether the Department for Children and Families is adequately protecting foster children and whether its contractors can provide adequate services.

But the department has started its own review of foster care policies and legislative leaders have appointed a special committee to review foster care issues.

PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City woman cleaning out some of her husband’s items found what is believed to be a live explosive in their home.

The Kansas City Star reports the Prairie Village, Kansas, woman called police around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday saying she had found an old military item that could possibly be an explosive.

Prairie Village police spokesman Capt. Byron Roberson says Overland Park police’s bomb squad determined the device appears to be an unexploded rifle-mounted mortar round.

Prairie Village police requested military personnel from Fort Riley come to the home and dispose of the item.

Police evacuated the house and blocked off the street. They also told neighbors what was going on and asked them to stay inside their homes — preferably in their basements.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Boy Scouts of America’s top policy-making board voted Monday to end its ban on gay adult leaders while allowing church-sponsored Scout units to maintain the exclusion if that accords with their faith.

In 2013, the BSA decided to let openly gay boys become scouts. That prompted conservative Christians to launch Trail Life USA as a scouting alternative.

Several religious denominations that continue to sponsor large numbers of Boy Scout units — including the Roman Catholic church, the Mormon church and the Southern Baptist Convention — have been apprehensive about the BSA lifting its ban on gay adults. The Rev. Russell Moore, the Southern Baptists’ public policy chief, says he’s seen “a definite cooling on the part of Baptist churches toward the Scouts” Moore says, “This will probably bring that cooling to a freeze.”

The Boy Scouts’ top leaders have pledged to defend the right of any church-sponsored units to continue excluding gays as adult volunteers.

But Trail Life Chairman John Stemberger predicts that the new BSA policy will expose churches to discrimination lawsuits if they adhere to their faith’s teachings.

OZARK, Mo. (AP) — A report from the Christian County Sheriff’s Department says federal authorities are working with the department to determine why some of the department’s fully automatic weapons are unaccounted for.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that interim Sheriff Dwight McNiel says in a 19-page report that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is working with the department to account for the missing weapons. The report says the weapons may have been legitimately transferred to another agency or authorized firearms dealer.

It’s unclear how many weapons and specifically what types of automatic weapons are involved.

The report says the ATF inventoried the sheriff’s department, leading to the discovery of the missing automatic weapons. The ATF’s Springfield office didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment early Wednesday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A group of business associations has started a petition drive to try to force a referendum election aimed at overturning Kansas City’s new minimum wage law.

The Kansas City Star reports the group has until Aug. 25 to gather about 3,400 signatures to challenge the measure recently approved by the City Council. The measure raises Kansas City’s minimum wage from $7.65 per hour to $8.50 per hour on Aug. 24, with annual increases to $13 per hour by 2020.

The group, Missourians for Fair Wages, includes restaurant, hotel and other business associations. Spokesman David Jackson says the group wants to slow down the city action to make sure it doesn’t hurt the local economy.

Minimum wage increase proponents condemned the group’s effort and said they’ll fight the petition drive.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — For two decades, Tom Rea of St. Louis played the same Powerball numbers.

It finally paid off — in a big way.

The Missouri Lottery on Wednesday introduced the 62-year-old Rea and his wife, Cathy, as winners of a $70 million Powerball jackpot from the July 4 drawing. The couple claimed the prize at the Missouri Lottery headquarters in Jefferson City on Friday.

The winning numbers, a combination of family birthdays, matched all five white balls and the Powerball. Rea purchased the winning ticket at a Gas Mart store on Hampton Avenue in south St. Louis.

Rea says he had been playing the same number combination every Wednesday and Saturday for 23 years.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A group of business associations has started a petition drive to try to force a referendum election aimed at overturning Kansas City’s new minimum wage law.

The group has until Aug. 25 to gather about 3,400 signatures to challenge the measure recently approved by the City Council. The measure raises Kansas City’s minimum wage from $7.65 per hour to $8.50 per hour on Aug. 24, with annual increases to $13 per hour by 2020.

The group, Missourians for Fair Wages, includes restaurant, hotel and other business associations. Spokesman David Jackson says the group wants to slow down the city action to make sure it doesn’t hurt the local economy.

Minimum wage increase proponents condemned the group’s effort and said they’ll fight the petition drive.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The federal government expects to spend $191 million to pay chicken and turkey farmers for birds lost to avian flu.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says that’s in addition to the nearly $400 million spent on cleaning up dead birds and disinfecting barns. The government also is paying to research and stockpile a bird flu vaccine.

Vilsack spoke Tuesday at a bird flu conference in Des Moines where the poultry industry is talking about how to better respond if the disease returns.

Hardest hit by the outbreak this spring were Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.

Vilsack says the USDA is preparing for recurrence of the virus spread by wild migrating birds and plans to ask Congress to consider a poultry disaster program similar to one that exists for livestock producers.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Republican candidate for Missouri governor Catherine Hanaway says the penalty for selling aborted fetal remains should be a felony, not a misdemeanor.

Hanaway called for ramping up state law Tuesday during an anti-abortion rally in Columbia. The rally was in response to a video released by anti-abortion activists showing Planned Parenthood’s senior director of medical services discussing procedures for providing fetal body parts to researchers.

It’s a misdemeanor in Missouri to offer or receive “valuable consideration” for aborted fetal tissue or organs. Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri has said it doesn’t participate in such a program.

Hanaway is a former Missouri House speaker and U.S. attorney. She faces what could be a crowded GOP primary for governor.