ST. LOUIS (AP) — Rivers are on the rise at several locations in Missouri.

The National Weather Service reports that the Missouri River is 3 feet to 6 feet above technical flood stage at several points across the state. Flooding is mostly limited to rural roads and agricultural land, but the city park in the western Missouri town of Glasgow could flood if the water rises much higher. The river is nearly 7 feet above flood stage at Glasgow.

As of 3:30 p.m. Monday the Missouri River at St. Joseph had dropped to 15.5 feet. Minor flood stage is 17 feet.

Other rivers are high, too, the result of recent rains, including the Osage in southwest Missouri and the Meramec near St. Louis.

The Mississippi River is near flood stage in St. Louis and a couple of feet above flood stage in Cape Girardeau, but no significant problems are occurring.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A man and woman who authorities say schemed to defraud insurers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars are to be sentenced in St. Louis for their role in a 2001 blaze that killed their teenage son.

Steven Kemper and Sandra Kay Bryant are scheduled to appear Monday in federal court in St. Louis.

Both have pleaded guilty to one felony count of aiding and abetting the use of fire to commit mail fraud.

Investigators say the fire at the family’s home in the St. Louis suburb of Florissant killed 15-year-old Zachariah Kemper after he became trapped in the basement that he shared with his mother while her mother, Steven Kemper and his lover lived upstairs. All of the adults escaped unharmed.

 

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas corn check off rate will increase to 1 cent per bushel beginning July 1.

The Kansas Corn Commission says that’s the first check off increase in 25 years.

Corn Commission Chairman Kent Moore says the increase will allow the commission to pursue more domestic and foreign markets for corn and corn products such as ethanol and red meat. Revenue from the check off will also be used to build demand for ethanol-blended fuels; ensuring the use of innovative technology and improving efforts to market corn to consumers.

The Hutchinson News reports the increase will bring Kansas in line with most corn states that have check off rates higher than the half-cent-per-bushel rate.

CHARLESTON, Mo. (AP) A southeast Missouri man is charged with felony domestic assault in connection with a screwdriver stabbing that injured a woman.

The (Sikeston) Standard Democrat reports that Mississippi County prosecutors also have charged 30-year-old Anthony George of East Prairie with first-degree burglary and armed criminal action.

East Prairie police say that officers responding to a reported domestic dispute before dawn Friday found the victim with two stab wounds in her chest in her home.

Police say the woman reported that George kicked in her front door and assaulted her before injuring her with a screwdriver.

Investigators later found George riding a bicycle and arrested him.

Online court records do not show whether he has an attorney.

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — The U.S. soldier who murdered 16 Afghan villagers in 2012 says he had lost compassion for Iraqis and Afghans over the course of his four combat deployments.

The News Tribune newspaper of Tacoma obtained an eight-page letter Staff Sergeant Robert Bales wrote to the senior Army officer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord requesting that his life sentence be reduced. He said his mind was “consumed by war,” and that after being in prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for two years he now understands that what he thought was normal was the farthest thing from it.

Lieutenant General Stephen Lanza rejected the request to overturn Bales’ conviction or modify his sentence.

Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Washington, shot 22 people in all, including 17 women and children, during pre-dawn raids on two villages in Kandahar Province in March 2012.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City has reached an agreement with Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint Corp. and Cisco Systems to create a $15.7 million set of high-tech “Smart City” services along the 2.2-mile downtown streetcar line under construction.

The Kansas City Star reports Sprint will spend $7 million to build and own a Wi-Fi network along the streetcar line. Cisco, whose equipment will be used for the network, is investing about $5 million, and Kansas City will provide $3.7 million.

The high-tech system will include smart lighting, cameras and sensors, in addition to 25 interactive digital kiosks along the route to provide information about local events, food and entertainment.

The features are expected to be operational when the streetcar opens to the public early next year.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate has approved a new plan for raising sales and cigarette taxes to close a projected budget shortfall.

The 21-17 vote Sunday represented the first time this year that the chamber has approved a plan for raising enough new revenues to balance the budget. The action came on the 108th day of an annual legislative session that is now the longest in state history.

The plan would raise $423 million during the fiscal year that begins July 1st. The sales tax would increase to 6.55 percent from 6.15 percent and the cigarette tax would go up by 50 cents a pack to $1.29.

The measure also would raise $24 million during the next fiscal year by increasing taxes for business owners.

The plan goes next to the House.

DETROIT (AP) — U.S. safety regulators are investigating complaints that automatic braking in Jeep Grand Cherokees can come on for no reason.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the probe covers about 20,000 of the SUVs from the 2014 model year.

The agency says it has nine complaints that the autonomous brakes suddenly reduced the Jeeps’ speed for no apparent reason.

The Grand Cherokee and other vehicles have cruise control systems that use radar and cameras to detect objects and automatically brake to avoid a crash. The systems are among the first steps toward cars that drive themselves.

Many people who complained said the mysterious braking nearly caused other cars to hit them from behind.

The agency will investigate how often the problem happens. The probe could lead to a recall.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A preliminary hearing has been delayed for a suspect in the death of a 100-year-old Wichita woman three weeks after she was allegedly raped.

The hearing was delayed Thursday after an attorney for 36-year-old Kasey Nesbitt asked to withdraw from the case.

The Wichita Eagle reports Sedgwick County District Judge David Dahl appointed a new attorney for Nesbitt and tentatively scheduled a preliminary hearing for June 15.

Nesbitt is charged with first-degree murder in the October 2014 death of Martha Schell. She died 21 days after she allegedly was assaulted.

He was originally charged with rape and aggravated burglary but after an autopsy report was released last month, prosecutors added the first-degree murder charge.

Nesbitt has pleaded not guilty to the rape and aggravated burglary charges.

DETROIT (AP) — Fiat Chrysler is admitting that it missed legal deadlines to notify customers in five safety recalls.

The missed deadlines could bring a fine from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency plans to hold a public hearing July 2 on the company’s performance in 20 different recalls.

The missed deadlines were revealed in Fiat Chrysler’s response to questions from the agency before the hearing. The response was released on Thursday.

Automakers must notify customers within 60 days after telling the government about a recall. Four of the five misses were four days or less, but one was 12 days late.

Company spokesman Eric Mayne said owners in that case had already been notified. The missed deadlines happened when the company decided to change the recall repair.