SALEM, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri county commissioner is reconsidering a decision to lower the flags at the county courthouse and judicial building to “mourn” the legalization of same-sex marriage.

The Dent County Commission voted Monday to observe one year of mourning of the Supreme Court’s June 26 ruling. The commission planned to lower the flags to half-staff on the 26th of each month for a year, from July to June.

But Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles says the commission would likely meet this week to rescind the vote. Skiles says members of the military told him lowering the flag should be reserved to pay respects to fallen soldiers and dignitaries who die.

Dent County resident Alex Sellers started an online petition to stop the commission’s act of mourning.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A September execution date has been set for a man convicted of raping and killing a 15-year-old Kansas City girl in 1989.

The Missouri Supreme Court set the execution date for Roderick Nunley for the 24-hour period beginning at 6 p.m. on Sept. 1.

Missouri has executed four men this year, and another inmate is scheduled for execution Tuesday evening.

Nunley was one of two men who pleaded guilty and received the death penalty in the death of Ann Harrison. She was waiting for a school bus in front of her home when she was abducted.

Michael Taylor was executed for the same crime in 2014.

An appeals court ruled earlier that Nunley wasn’t entitled to a new sentencing hearing because he waived jury sentencing when he pleaded guilty.

BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri inmate who killed a 19-year-old woman after sexually attacking her and tying her to a cemetery tree has been executed.

Fifty-five-year-old David Zink was put to death by injection Tuesday at a state prison south of St. Louis after the U.S. Supreme Court and Gov. Jay Nixon declined to intervene. Zink was a paroled sex offender in 2001 when he abducted Amanda Morton after hitting her car on an Interstate 44 exit ramp a mile from her home.

He told investigators he feared his drunken fender-bender could violate his parole and send him back to prison.

Jurors convicted Zink in 2004 and recommended a death sentence.

Corrections Department spokesman Mike O’Connell said Zink was pronounced dead at 7:41 p.m.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A tornado that touched down in south-central Kansas during a severe thunderstorm damaged at least two homes, but no injuries were reported.

Reno County emergency specialist Evan Seiwert said the tornado was reported three miles southeast of Nickerson on Monday evening.

Todd Strain with Reno County Emergency Management says power lines were also down.

Reno County-Hutchinson Law Enforcement says one home may be a total loss, and another sustained damage to a roof and garage. Authorities also said two roads were closed in Reno County because of tornado damage.

Strain said sections of Reno County received up to 3 inches of rain. The National Weather Service canceled a flood warning for Reno County on Tuesday morning after floodwaters began receding.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An attorney for the University of Kansas has faced stiff questioning from an appeals court judge during a hearing on whether the school had the right to expel a student based on offensive tweets and off-campus incidents.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports former KU student Navid Yeasin was suspended in November 2013 for violating an order not to contact his ex-girlfriend in any way. Yeasin sued last year and a Douglas County judge ruled the school did not have jurisdiction to expel him.

The university appealed that decision to the Kansas Court of Appeals, and a three-judge panel heard arguments from both sides on Tuesday.

Judge Stephen Hill sparred with Trower over whether the school’s actions constituted prior restraint of speech.

The panel didn’t issue a ruling on Tuesday.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback’s office says same-sex couples in Kansas who were married last year after the state’s ban was struck down in November can file joint taxes for the 2014 tax year.

Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said Tuesday that same-sex couples who filed for an extension on their 2014 taxes or want to go back and amend their taxes may file jointly.

The Wichita Eagle reports the Kansas Department of Revenue said Monday that couples would be able to file jointly for the current 2015 tax year. Hawley says the agency reviewed its policy and confirmed that gay couples also will be able to file jointly for 2014.

Equality Kansas executive director Tom Witt hailed Tuesday’s announcement, saying married couples should be allowed to file their taxes as married.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just hours after announcing a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran on Tuesday, the White House launched a robust lobbying campaign to persuade skeptical Democrats in Congress to approve the deal.

Vice President Joe Biden started calling his Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill and plans to head to the House on Wednesday to brief Democrats. President Barack Obama and senior members of Obama’s national security team also are calling members of Congress to brief them on the contents of the agreement that is well over 100 pages long.

After receiving a copy of the pact, lawmakers will have 60 days to read the fine print, vote yea or nay — or take no action.

Soon after it was announced, Democrats expressed skepticism about the agreement under which Tehran would curtail its nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from international sanctions that have been crippling the Iranian economy.

“I will only support it if this deal prevents every Iranian pathway to develop a nuclear weapons capability,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who listed several other provisions he will check in the agreement.

Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, joined many other Democrats who said verification provisions will determine whether they support it. “Without verification, this is a useless agreement,” Hoyer said.

Republicans were uniform in their opposition, with House Speaker John Boehner saying the GOP would do what it can to undermine the deal.

“In the coming days, Congress will need to scrutinize this deal and answer whether implementing the agreement is worth dismantling our painstakingly constructed sanctions regime that took more than a decade to establish,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Iran continues to be the lead sponsor of terrorism in the world and relieving sanctions would make the Tehran regime flush with cash and could create a more dangerous threat to the United States and its allies.”

If Congress votes to disapprove the agreement, Obama reiterated Tuesday that he would veto the measure. A two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate would be needed to override a veto.

“That’s not a scenario that we think is going to happen,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on Air Force One en route to Philadelphia. He said the administration feels confident that if lawmakers can take off their political hats and focus on the details of the deal “there’s a lot in here to like.”

Even the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he doesn’t see how Congress can prevent the deal from being implemented.

“You can’t stop it,” McCain said. “It can be unraveled. It can be undone by a Republican president who cares about the security of this nation.”

The foreign policy committees in both chambers — and possibly other panels on intelligence and the armed services — are expected to begin holding hearings next week. It appears unlikely, though, that Congress will take any formal action before the August recess, when they most certainly will hear from constituents on the issue.

When it comes to a vote, all eyes will be on Democrats to figure out whether they will back the deal brokered by the administration or turn their back on the president, as many of his fellow Democrats did in a recent battle involving trade negotiating authority for presidents.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A new report shows Missouri’s jobless rate held steady in June while the state gained 1,500 jobs.

Figures from the Department of Economic Development show the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.8 percent in June, the same percentage as in May.

The state seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment reached more than 2.75 million, up 1,500 jobs compared with May.

The increase in nonfarm employment came as the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force lost about 23,000 people from last month. That brings the total labor force down to slightly less than 3.1 million.

The labor force counts people with jobs and those who are on unemployment but looking for work.

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — A panel appointed to study social and economic issues following the unrest in Ferguson last year has approved almost 100 recommendations as part of a report that eventually will be sent to the governor.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that among the “calls to action” approved by the Ferguson Commission on Monday night was a measure supporting municipal court reform. One measure said the Missouri Supreme Court should supervise local courts and that they be consolidated to an “appropriate number.”

The commission will decide which of the calls to action, plus those that were previously approved, will be presented to Gov. Jay Nixon as “signature priorities.”

Nixon swore in commission members in 2014 and charged them with issuing a report with specific policy recommendations by September.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal judge has narrowed a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of Michael Brown Jr. against the city of Ferguson, Missouri, its former police chief and the ex-police officer who fatally shot the black 18-year-old.

U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber on Tuesday dismissed four of the seven counts from the suit filed in April.

He told lawyers for Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden that they must make a more persuasive claim for damages on behalf of their late adult child. Brown’s parents didn’t attend the two-hour hearing in St. Louis.

The lawsuit was filed in St. Louis County Court but moved to federal court at the defense’s request.

Webber says he dismissed two “redundant” counts against former Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson and former Officer Darren Wilson.