KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri officials are proposing changes after aspiring teachers struggled on new educator certification exams, particularly those for math and science.

Fifty-five content tests measure readiness to be everything from classroom teachers to superintendents. Newly released data shows that on six of the tests, fewer than half of the test-takers passed.

The proposed changes include giving test-takers more time and fewer questions on some of the exams.

The changes will be discussed Tuesday at a Missouri Board of Education meeting.

Issues arose after the state in September switched certification exams. Instead of taking a teaching test known as Praxis II, students now must fare well on a more rigorous assessment called the Missouri Content Assessment. Through April 12, more than 7,100 of the tests were taken.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Greene County officials say they’ve located the missing 19-year-old daughter of a woman found dead in her Missouri home.

Deputy Cathy Ussery said daughter Gypsy Blancharde was found shortly after 10 a.m. Monday in a residential home in another state and is safe. She declined to disclose where she was found.

A person of interest is in custody.

Blancharde’s 48-year-old mother Claudinnea “Dee Dee” Blancharde was found Sunday in her Springfield home. Police say she was violently assaulted. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Ussery said police were called to the home after concerned friends found what Ussery called a strange Facebook update from the mother and daughter’s shared account.

Ussery said Gypsy Blancharde had several medical issues and required a wheelchair.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a deputy bishop have resigned after prosecutors there charged the archdiocese with failing to protect children from a pedophile priest. The Vatican says Pope Francis has accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche.

They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

 

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a corporation of having “turned a blind eye” to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys. No individual was named in the indictment.

A critic of Archbishop John Nienstedt says his resignation from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was necessary because the sex abuse scandal there has become overwhelming. The Rev. Michael Tegeder of St. Francis Cabrini Church in Minneapolis has been calling for Nienstedt’s resignation for two years.

Tegeder says Nienstedt has undermined the archdiocese and the safety of its children. He says it’s time to pick up the pieces and find a new direction. He says Nienstedt’s resignation is a sign of hope that change is possible.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Two people charged with stealing a puppy from a Springfield shelter say they’re sorry.

Springfield attorney Dee Wampler is representing the suspects in the 8-week-old puppy’s theft from the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri. He says what his clients did was “stupid” and “senseless.”

But Wampler says his clients aren’t criminals for taking the puppies without paying. Aaron Duvel and Jamie Wirsig have been charged with a felony count of stealing an animal. Wampler says a felony conviction could cause problems for both suspects.

Duvel is a Missouri National Guard member, while Wirsig is enrolled to begin law school in the fall.

Wirsig says they took the puppy because they feared he would be neutered too young. Duvel now says the decision was “irrational.”

(AP) — Walgreens expects to reach about half the country by the end of the year with a new service that lets people see doctors for minor ailments without leaving home, through smartphone, tablet or computer.

The nation’s largest drugstore chain is expanding a smartphone application it started testing last December to tablets and personal computers and plans to make it available in 25 states.

The growth comes as major insurers UnitedHealth Group and Anthem prepare to expand their own non-emergency telemedicine services to about 40 million more people by next year.

Doctors have used video feeds and other technology for years to treat patients in remote locations. But experts say growing smartphone use and customer demand are fueling a rapid expansion into everyday care the family doctor used to handle.

HAVEN, Kan. (AP) — Students at Haven High School will have to look at each other while dancing next school year.

The south-central Kansas school district says a type of dancing known as grinding will be banned at school functions. During a grinding dance, the students dance back-to-front with the person in back making a grinding motion.

School board member Bobbie Rohling says the dancing is “X-rated” and too much of it is occurring at school dances.

The Hutchinson News reports several other Kansas schools have banned the dance in recent years, including Inman, Goddard and McPherson.

OZARK, Mo. (AP) — An interim sheriff in southwest Missouri says his county has no use for a large military vehicle given to the sheriff’s department by the federal government.

Dwight McNiel has asked some of Missouri’s congressional representatives to find a way to return the mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle to the Department of Defense.

The Springfield News-Leader reports former county sheriff Joey Kyle acquired the vehicle from the defense department about a year ago, saying it could be used in crisis situations.

McNiel says he has lived in the area for more than 50 years and has never seen any incident that would justify use of the vehicle. He says county residents should not have to pay to store, maintain and insure the vehicle.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Financial advisers soon will have more authority to act if they suspect an older Missouri resident or person with a disability is the target of financial fraud.

Gov. Jay Nixon on Friday signed a bill touted by supporters as a way to protect seniors from exploitation.

Once the bill takes effect, financial professionals can refuse to process transactions if fraud is suspected.

The measure applies to advisers of those over 60 or those with disabilities.

Financial professionals must inform state agencies, as well as a relative, attorney or the authorities of suspicious activity.

Nixon says the legislation is another tool to fight financial exploitation.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials say five lakes around the state currently have toxic algae blooms.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says warnings for blue-green algae have been issued for Chisolm Creek Park Lake in Sedgwick County, Lovewell State Park Lake in Jewell County, Marion Reservoir in Marion County, Memorial Park Lake in Barton County and Norton Lake in Norton County.

KDHE says lakes under a watches or warnings are not closed, but the public should be aware that high levels of toxic blue-green algae have been detected. KDHE says direct contact with the water is strongly discouraged for people, pets and livestock.

Some cyanobacteria produce toxins that can cause problems ranging from skin irritation to nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Chronic effects include liver and central nervous system damage.