SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A puppy stolen from a southwest Missouri animal shelter has been returned.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that the 8-week old puppy disappeared Saturday. The puppy is named RBI after the baseball statistic.

The Greene County Sheriff’s Office says two men were arrested Tuesday afternoon after they were identified from shelter surveillance footage. They have been charged with a felony count of stealing an animal.

A third person returned the puppy to the sheriff’s office. From there, RBI made it back to the shelter, where he quickly fell asleep after a kibble snack.

Darin Landrum, executive director of the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri, called the puppy’s return a “big relief.”

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has rejected a bill increasing sales and cigarette taxes to erase a projected budget deficit and avert deep spending cuts.

The Kansas Constitution prohibits the state from running a deficit. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget director warned lawmakers this week failing to pass a tax bill would lead to across-the-board spending cuts.

The vote was 94-21 Thursday against a measure that would raise more than $400 million during the fiscal year that begins July 1. The tax increases would have balanced a $15.4 billion budget already approved by the Republican-dominated Legislature.

The state’s budget problems arose after legislators slashed income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging.

House GOP leaders held the roll open for four hours over two days but couldn’t get the votes.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A proposed ban of alcohol other than beer and restrictions on visits by women at fraternities at the University of Missouri in Columbia are among possible changes being criticized as too overreaching.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says proposed rules such as barring women from fraternity houses during peak party hours from late Thursday until early Sunday is meant to cut down on sexual assaults.

Mizzou Fraternity Alumni Consortium spokesman Ted Hellman says the chancellor should be applauded for being proactive, and that nothing’s been finalized.

But students will get a chance to weigh in during a summit June 20 including administrators and members of Greek organizations.

The university’s Panhellenic Association says restricting women from locations under the guise of safety suggests women cannot make safety choices for themselves.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A second St. Louis firefighter accused of taking construction equipment from a local concrete company has been charged with felony stealing.

Prosecutors charged 49-year-old George M. Anderson on Wednesday. Police say Anderson and 37-year-old Brian Burton were found with stolen equipment at a Webster Groves home.

Both men are free on bond, and Burton is on administrative leave.

According to a fire department spokesman, Anderson has 24 hours from the time of his release to notify the fire department of the arrest. Once the department has been notified, Anderson will be placed on administrative leave.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Enterprise Rent-A-Car founder Jack Taylor and his family have unveiled a second round of large donations to organizations, equaling $92.5 million.

The family announced Wednesday it is donating to 13 cultural institutions and charities, most of which are local. The donations include $30 million to Forest Park Forever, a nonprofit that shares management and maintenance of St. Louis’ largest park.

CityArchRiver, the foundation spearheading the $380 million renovation of the Gateway Arch grounds, will get $25 million.

The donation to 29-year-old Forest Park Forever is the nonprofit’s largest single gift ever.

In May, the Taylor family announced a $22 million donation to various charities.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say more than 50 people were arrested recently as part of a plan to fight a growing heroin problem in St. Charles County.

James Shroba, agent in charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s St. Louis office, said Wednesday that 54 people have been arrested in the 10-month investigation and that most were taken into custody in the past two days.

He says the investigation targeted some of the area’s more violent heroin traffickers.

County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar says that as of Wednesday, 50 of those picked up have been charged and that three were charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with heroin overdose deaths.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that more than 34,000 “dosage units” of heroin and 28 weapons were also seized in the operation.

In Topeka, lawmakers are between a rock and a hard place on taxes and spending, as their record legislative session continues.

The Kansas House adjourned in the midst of a vote on a bill raising taxes to close a budget shortfall. At the time of adjournment, the measure was failing. The House ended its session at midnight Wednesday.

Top Republicans said the House would reconvene Thursday morning at the same point. The roll will be held open so that 10 absent members can vote.

The last unrecorded tally was 86-29 against the bill. It raises sales, cigarette and business taxes to help raise more than $400 million during the fiscal year beginning July 1st. The tax increases are necessary to balance the $15.4 billion budget already approved by lawmakers for the next fiscal year.

Lawmakers have worked out details of proposals aimed at decreasing local property tax levies and potentially eliminating exemptions to the state’s sales tax.

Legislative negotiators on Wednesday also agreed to preserve an income tax credit for poor families for the sales tax they pay on food.

A leader of a group of House Republicans has acknowledged it will not win approval for a larger increase in taxes for business owners than GOP Governor Sam Brownback wanted. Republican Representative Mark Hutton of Wichita said Wednesday that increasing taxes for business owners by $24 million during the fiscal year beginning July 1st is the best his group can do. Hutton and other House Republicans were pushing for an increase of as much as $101 million. But Brownback had promised to veto any increase greater than $24 million.

A 2012 policy championed by Brownback ended income taxes on the profits of 281,000 business owners and 53,000 farmers. Hutton said it’s time for lawmakers to move on and close a projected budget shortfall. They’re considering sales and cigarette tax increases.

CAMDENTON, Mo. (AP) — A 52-year-old Missouri man has been charged in a nearly decade-old shooting death.

The Camden County Sheriff’s Office says David Smith of Camdenton is charged with first-degree murder in the April 2006 shooting death of 26-year-old Shawn Spencer.

The sheriff’s office says in a release that Smith was arrested Tuesday and is being held without bond. Online court records don’t list a lawyer for Smith.

Deputies responding to a report of a shooting at Smith’s home on April 1, 2006, searched the property, talked to Smith and left after not finding any evidence of a crime. Spencer’s mother reported her son missing a year later. The sheriff’s department says two witnesses have since come forward.

The department says Spencer’s body hasn’t been found, but the investigation continues.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri man is accused of breaking federal law by transporting white-tailed deer to Florida.

A St. Louis grand jury indicted 54-year-old Charles “Sam” James of Columbia, Missouri, of violating federal law barring the trade in wildlife that have been illegally transported or sold.

The indictment alleges that as co-owner of Timber Hollow Whitetails near Mexico, Missouri, in October 2013, James used a rented trailer to drive 11 live deer to a farm for the animals near Laurel Hills, Florida. That came after a Florida law banned the importation of captive white-tailed deer.

Federal law bars the transport of live white-tailed deer out of Missouri or into Florida without proper documentation of the animals and health records certifying they’re disease-free.

Court records don’t show whether James has an attorney.