WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a man used a candy bar in place of a weapon in what a manager thought was a robbery at a Wichita convenience store that was robbed the day before.

Wichita media outlets report that around 3 a.m. Tuesday, the man walked into the store and pulled what the manager thought was a handgun and pointed it at him, saying “Freeze! Get on your knees!”

Lt. James Espinoza said when the suspect began laughing, the manager looked up and saw that the man was actually holding a Kit Kat candy bar. Espinoza said the suspect then left the store without taking anything.

Espinoza said the incident does not seem to be related to the robbery that took place the day before.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A white supremacist accused of killing three people last year at two Jewish sites in Kansas is due in court for another hearing in the run-up to his August capital murder trial.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. got permission last month to fire his attorneys and represent himself during a contentious hearing in which he repeatedly interrupted Johnson County District Judge Kelly Ryan.

The hearing Wednesday will focus on two motions from Miller: one asking a judge to let him stay in the courtroom during recesses and another to suppress certain evidence.

The 74-year-old Aurora, Missouri, man has told several news outlets, including The Associated Press, that he is dying from emphysema and that he went to the sites in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park to kill Jewish people.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a bill putting new limits on appeals by sex offenders committed indefinitely to a state treatment program.

The measure was passed overwhelmingly by both chambers and Brownback signed it Tuesday. The new law takes effect July 1.

Offenders determined by a court to be sexual predators are committed to a treatment program after serving their criminal sentences. The bill would remove the right of confined offenders to request a jury trial when petitioning for release. It also would limit their right to file grievances on some issues.

Brownback also signed a bill helping victims of human trafficking by allowing them to file civil lawsuits against perpetrators and collect damages. The new law also takes effect July 1.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is traveling to the nation’s capital to participate in a panel discussion about exports sponsored by a presidential advisory council.

Nixon departed Tuesday for Washington and is scheduled to be a part of a Wednesday meeting of the President’s Export Council. An agenda lists a panel discussion about “21st Century Competitiveness.”

Nixon spokesman Scott Holste says the panel discussion also will include South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Fresno, California, Mayor Ashley Swearengin. He says it will be moderated by Jim McNerney Jr., who is chairman and CEO of The Boeing Co.

Later this week, Nixon is to leave for France to attend the Paris Air Show. Some participants in that trade trip also will be going to Ireland, though Nixon will not.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas agriculture officials have issued an order prohibiting movement of Kansas poultry in a move to prevent the spread of a devastating form of bird flu.

The order announced Tuesday effectively cancels all poultry-related shows and events through the rest of this year. That includes regional and county fairs, festivals, the Kansas State Fair, swap meets, exotic sales and live bird auctions.

The order was signed by Kansas Agriculture Secretary Jackie McClaskey. The department says the measure is an effort to prevent the spread of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza. Kansas had a positive case of it this year in Leavenworth County.

Deputy Animal Health Commissioner Justin Smith says the decision was not made lightly, but says it was necessary to do everything possible to protect the Kansas poultry flock.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The push to oust Ferguson’s mayor has hit a snag after a group pressing for the recall failed to gather enough valid signatures. Eric Fey of the St. Louis County Board of Election Commissioners says that while 1,814 valid signatures were needed to remove James Knowles III from office in the St. Louis suburb, only 1,008 were certified.

Signatures must be from Ferguson residents who were registered to vote during the last mayoral election.

A message left Tuesday by The Associated Press with an activist group behind the recall drive was not immediately returned.

The issue may not be over. According to Ferguson’s charter, pursuers of the recall have an additional 10 days to add more signatures.

VANDUSER, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a highway department worker in southeast Missouri’s Scott County was killed when the service pickup truck he was driving was hit by a train.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says 55-year-old Boby Long of Sikeston died at the scene of the accident shortly before 10:30 a.m. Monday near the village of Vanduser.

The patrol says Long was driving a Ford F-350 truck when the vehicle entered the train’s path and became stuck.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri man who killed his girlfriend and her 2-year-old daughter with a butcher knife has been put to death.

Richard Strong was executed Tuesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre. He became the fourth man to die by injection in Missouri this year and the 16th since November 2013. Only Texas has executed more inmates over that span.

The bodies of Eva Washington and daughter Zandrea Thomas were found in October 2000 in Washington’s apartment in the St. Louis suburb of St. Ann. A butcher knife was found on a bed next to a pool of blood. Strong and Washington’s 3-month-old, Alyshia Strong, was on the bed but wasn’t harmed.

Alyshia is now 14 and pleaded for her father’s life in a clemency request to Gov. Jay Nixon.

KENNETT, Mo. (AP) — A southeast Missouri man accused of fatally shooting his wife is free on $1 million bond.

Dunklin County authorities tell the (Kennett) Daily Dunklin Democrat that 52-year-old Allan Branum of Kennett no longer is in custody.

Branum is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the wounding of wife Regena Branum during a dispute at their home in May of last year. She died the next day at a Tennessee hospital.

A message left Tuesday with Branum’s attorney, Andrew Bullard, was not immediately returned.

Online court records show that Branum is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday.