DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling nearly 423,000 cars and SUVs in North America because the power-assisted steering can fail while they’re being driven.

The recall covers certain Ford Flex and Taurus vehicles, as well as the Lincoln MKS and MKT from 2011 through 2013. Also covered are the Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ from 2011 through 2012 and some 2011 Mercury Milans.

Ford says an intermittent electrical connection can cause the power steering to stop. That sends the steering into manual mode, making the vehicles harder to control.

Dealers will either update power steering software or replace the steering gear.

The company also is recalling 19,500 2015 Mustangs with 2.3-Liter engines due to high underbody temperatures that could degrade the fuel tank. Dealers will replace a heat shield and add insulation.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Democratic Missouri state House Rep. Bill Otto says he’s running for Congress.

Otto on Tuesday announced plans to run to represent Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District in suburban St. Louis, which has been represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner since 2013.

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Todd Akin held the seat before Wagner.

Otto, of Maryland Heights, was elected to the Missouri state House in 2012. He previously served in the Navy and worked as an air traffic controller.

He spoke against radioactive contamination at landfills in the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton in his Tuesday announcement. Wagner has raised similar concerns after a contractor 40 years ago illegally dumped waste at West Lake Landfill.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Senate has hired a lawyer in response to a “workplace harassment complaint.”

A document obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press shows the Senate hired the attorney May 7.

The legal fee agreement didn’t give additional details regarding the complaint, but Minority Leader Joe Keaveny said the Senate is conducting an internal investigation. He declined to comment further.

Jim Nowogrocki of St. Louis-based Weiss Attorneys at Law will be paid $270 an hour for legal counsel and advice. Keaveny, of St. Louis, also works at that law firm.

The Senate investigation comes amid fallout from the resignation of former Republican House Speaker John Diehl. Diehl resigned earlier this month on the last day of session after admitting he had exchanged sexually suggestive text messages with an intern.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A man has been rescued after becoming trapped when a trench collapsed on him in Kansas City, Kansas.

Kansas City media outlets report that wet soil caved in on the man while he was remodeling his home Tuesday. According to the man’s son, he was buried up to his chest.

Firefighters had to use a harness and rope to pull the man to safety. Fire department deputy chief Craig Duke said the man was trapped and compressed for so long, they were worried about circulation issues.

Once the man was freed, he was transported to the University of Kansas Hospital for treatment.

PAOLA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a car pulled from a northeast Kansas lake last week contained the body of a man missing since 1992.

An autopsy identified the remains as 57-year-old Fremont O’Berg, who was living in rural Paola, Kansas, when he disappeared.

The Miami County Sheriff’s department said in a news release Tuesday that the body was found after a fisherman using underwater sonar equipment detected a submerged vehicle in Hillsdale Lake.

When the vehicle was pulled from the lake, O’Berg’s remains were found in the driver’s seat.

Information circulated after O’Berg’s January 1992 disappearance noted he suffered from heart and liver issues as well as acute bronchitis.

His family released a statement saying the recovery answers many questions and also asking for privacy.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A bill that would ease many of Kansas’ marijuana laws has stalled in the Senate and likely won’t be considered again this year.

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce said Tuesday the bill needs time for careful consideration and the chamber is currently attempting to wind down the session and focus on taxes.

The bill would decrease penalties for marijuana possession, order a state study of industrial hemp and allow limited production and sale of hemp oil to treat seizures.

It passed the House in a surprise vote earlier this month and represents the most serious push in decades to liberalize Kansas’ marijuana policies.

Bruce says the Senate will seek to separate the different portions of the bill next year and discuss them individually.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A small bird that’s typically found hundreds of miles away in Mexico and South America apparently made its way to western Kansas, watchers say, giving the Sunflower State a couple of possible birding firsts.

The piratic flycatcher, a migratory bird that nests as far away as Argentina, has been seen as far north as New Mexico, Texas and Florida. But it hasn’t been reported in Kansas until earlier this month.

Mike Rader, with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, says if the May 8 sighting at Scott State Park is confirmed by the Kansas Bird Records Committee, it would be the most northerly sighting of the bird.

Mark Robbins, records committee chairman, says the documentation with this sighting is so detailed, it’s recognition is a “no-brainer.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Legislature once again has failed to pass bills aimed at clamping down on ethics laws considered some of the loosest in the nation.

A bill aimed at preventing lawmakers from leaving office and immediately becoming lobbyist failed to pass before the May 15th legislative deadline. The breakdown of this year’s ethics proposals means Missouri for at least another year will remain the only state with the trio of unlimited campaign contributions, uncapped lobbyist gifts and no laws limiting lawmakers from becoming lobbyists.

While legislative leaders say they’ll try again next session, some residents are making moves to sidestep the Legislature.

Three initiative petitions to institute campaign contribution limits have so far been filed. Bills for donation caps did not progress in the General Assembly this year.

LARNED, Kan. (AP) — Carlos Lively says he may be confined by the state of Kansas for the rest of his life although he completed a prison sentence for a sex offense nine years ago.

The 30-year-old is one of 258 patients committed indefinitely to an expanding treatment program that the state of Kansas says keeps the public safe from violent sexual predators who would otherwise go free after serving jail time.

Only three patients have been released from the program since its inception in 1994, while 27 have died. A state audit report released in April found its costs were soaring as it adds 10 to 15 patients per year, increasing concerns that some offenders who could be released are being held in the expensive program due to flaws in its treatment regimen.