DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A haze is blanketing much of the Midwest as strong winds carry smoke from forest fires in Canada thousands of miles to the south.

National Weather Service forecasters say Tuesday that smoke from wildfires in northern Saskatchewan is blowing as far south as Tennessee. A thick band of smoke extends through much of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri.

The smoke prompted health warnings in Iowa and Nebraska. The haze also has slightly cooled temperatures.

Bill Borghoff, a weather service forecaster in Chanhassen, Minnesota, says the smoky skies should remain through Wednesday but then shift to the east.

The haze could extend as far as New England later this week, but Borghoff says the smoke shouldn’t be as thick as it travels east.

CLICK HERE to see animated loop.

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — A U.S. Department of Justice report summary obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says police responded to unrest in Ferguson in a way that antagonized crowds, violated free-speech right and made it difficult to hold officers accountable.

The summary cited “vague and arbitrary” orders to keep protesters moving that violated their rights of assembly and free speech.

It is part of a longer “after-action” report that looked at the way police in Ferguson, St. Louis city and county and the Missouri State Highway Patrol responded in the first 16 days after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson officer last August.

The newspaper reports top police officials at those four agencies will receive the full report this week.

DETROIT (AP) — The death toll from faulty ignition switches in General Motors’ small cars has risen by two to 119.

Victims’ families are being offered compensation of at least $1 million each by attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who was hired by GM last year. In addition, Feinberg will make offers to 243 people who were injured in crashes caused by the switches in the Chevrolet Cobalt and other older cars.

GM recalled 2.6 million of the cars last year, but acknowledged it knew about the switch problems for more than a decade.

Feinberg’s compensation fund received 4,342 claims by the Jan. 31 deadline. About 90 percent were deemed deficient or ineligible. Eighty-one claims remain under review.

GM paid $200 million to settle claims filed with Feinberg as of March 31.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A child advocacy group says children in a third of Kansas counties don’t have access to summer food programs.

Many sites across the state provide the federally funded summer meals. But the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice says 35 counties don’t have any meal locations in the summer.

For example, Rebekah Gaston, an attorney for the group, says no sites are available north and west of Hays.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports state education officials note 100 new meal sites were added this year, many in rural counties.

Obstacles to providing the meals in rural areas include finding community locations and partners willing to help and the long distances families would travel to reach the meal sites.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man who killed his mother chose to have a judge, rather than a jury, decide his sentence.

Forty-year-old Jason Hachmeister on Monday waived his right to have a jury decide whether he should receive a sentence of at least 25 years or a Hard 50 sentence.

Instead, Shawnee County District Court Judge Richard Anderson will decide Hachmeister’s sentence for premeditated first-degree murder.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Hacmeister said he didn’t want his family or himself to have to see graphic photos of the crime scene again.

Sheila Hachmeister was stabbed and strangled at her Topeka home in September 2011.

Prosecutors said Jason Hachmeister stood to receive $125,000 in life insurance because of his mother’s death.

The sentencing trial will resume July 21.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Narcotics investigators in Springfield say the city is seeing an influx of higher-grade marijuana from states where the drug is legal, particularly Colorado.

Dan Banasik, a Missouri State Highway Patrol supervising sergeant for narcotics, says the more potent drug has driven up prices for the drug.

The Springfield News-Leader reports a few years ago, undercover narcotics officers could by a pound of marijuana from a dealer for about $1,000. Today, that same undercover operation would cost about $6,000.

Sgt. Shawn Griggs says the patrol seized about 1,071 pounds of marijuana in 2013 and about 1,700 pounds in 2014. The patrol has already seized more than 1,000 pounds halfway through this year.

Griggs says the patrol has also seen a huge increase in marijuana-infused food products, known as edibles.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Springfield woman charged with arranging the death of her mother has pleaded not guilty.

Twenty-three-year-old Gypsy Blancharde entered the plea Monday during a brief hearing in Greene County Court. She is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the June 14 stabbing death of 48-year-old Clauddinnea “Dee Dee” Blancharde at their home near Springfield.

The Springfield News-Leader reports Blancharde didn’t speak during the hearing other than to her lawyer. She was returned to Missouri from Wisconsin on Friday.

Prosecutors allege Blancharde persuaded her 26-year-old boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, to kill her mother.

Godejohn is also charged with first-degree murder and is jailed in Wisconsin awaiting extradition.

Authorities have said the Blanchardes pretended that Gypsy was disabled and they had survived Hurricane Katrina so they could collect donations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will continue allowing residents of Kansas and Arizona to register to vote using a federal form without having to provide proof of citizenship.

The justices on Monday rejected an appeal from Republican officials in those two states who have sought to enforce laws requiring new voters to submit a birth certificate, passport or other papers documenting U.S. citizenship.

Supporters of the laws have said that they prevent noncitizens from voting, particularly those living in the U.S. illegally. Critics have said incidents of noncitizens registering to vote are extremely rare, and that such Republican-backed laws hurt voter registration efforts and disenfranchise voters from certain groups that tend to vote Democrat, including minorities and college students.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has upheld the use of a controversial drug that has been implicated in several botched executions.

The justices on Monday voted 5-4 in a case from Oklahoma that the sedative midazolam can be used in executions without violating the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

The drug was used in executions in Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma in 2014 that took longer than usual and raised concerns that it did not perform its intended task of putting inmates into a coma-like sleep.