WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices rose at a steady pace in March, pushed higher by a limited supply of houses for sale.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 5 percent in March from 12 months earlier. Prices increased at the same pace in February.

Home values are rising at a faster rate than incomes, potentially pricing many would-be buyers out of the market. Yet current increases have moderated from the double-digit gains of late 2013 and early last year.

The biggest increases were in San Francisco and Denver, where prices rose 10.3 percent and 10 percent respectively.

The Case-Shiller index covers roughly half of U.S. homes. The index measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The March figures are the latest available.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office says a St. Louis area man is being held on $1 million bond after authorities say he was found with a 12-year-old southwest Missouri girl who had been missing since Friday.

The 47-year-old suspect is in custody in the St. Louis area and faces kidnapping charges. It’s unclear if the suspect has been formally charged.

The child was reported missing Friday afternoon and was found alive in St. Louis about 24 hours later.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said earlier that an Amber Alert was not issued for the child because it did not meet the appropriate criteria.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City leaders have opted against putting a measure on the August ballot that would have given voters a chance to decide whether the city should raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour.

But Mayor Sly James says the City Council will begin discussions immediately with a variety of groups in an attempt to reach a consensus by mid-July.

Several faith-based, labor and social justice groups gathered nearly 4,000 signatures of registered voters for a ballot measure to increase the city’s minimum wage to $10 an hour by Sept. 1, with annual increments until the wage hit $15 by 2020.

Supporters agreed to hang onto the petition and let the council make a determination on how much to raise the minimum wage.

HAYS, Kan. (AP) — Fort Hays State University plans to offer its first doctoral degree, beginning in September.

The school said in a news release that it will offer a Doctor of Nursing Practice through its Department of Nursing in the College of Health and Life Sciences. The college dean, Jeff Briggs, said it will be a clinical doctorate rather than a research doctorate.

The program will replace the family nurse practitioner program currently offered as part of the Master of Science in Nursing degree. Recipients will work the same positions family nurse practitioners and physician assistants work.

The Kansas Board of Regents approved the request on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service on Friday is reporting a net loss of $1.5 billion during the first three months of the year, noting that while more people are using its shipping and package services, it’s costly to do and revenue from other products have declined.

The Postal Service is an independent agency that receives no tax dollars for its day-to-day operations but is subject to congressional control. It has asked to end most Saturday deliveries. But that request is languishing in Congress amid opposition by postal unions.

According to its latest financial statement, which covers Jan. 1 through March 31, the Postal Service sent 420 million fewer pieces of mail compared to the same period last year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health regulators say an experimental combination drug for cystic fibrosis developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated helped improve breathing in patients with the deadly inherited disease.

But the Food and Drug Administration says in an online review that the benefit was small and it is unclear the addition of a second drug ingredient adds to the pill’s effectiveness.

About 30,000 Americans have cystic fibrosis, which causes sticky mucus buildup in the lungs and other organs, leading to infections, digestive problems and early death.

Vertex’s experimental drug, which would be sold as Orkambi, is the company’s follow-up to its breakthrough treatment Kalydeco, which the FDA approved in 2012. Orkambi combines the active ingredient in Kalydeco and a new drug, lumacaftor.

But FDA scientists say it’s unclear that lumacaftor “contributes any added benefit.”

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota zoomed to a record 2.17 trillion yen ($18.1 billion) profit for the fiscal year through March, up 19 percent from the previous year, buoyed by sales growth in the U.S. and a perk from the cheap yen.

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda told reporters Friday the Japanese automaker appeared to be back on track for “sustainable growth,” although the coming year would be a critical test.

Annual sales grew 6 percent to 27.23 trillion yen ($227 billion), although fewer vehicles were sold around the world. Cost cuts and a cheap yen helped.

Toyota has been the world’s No. 1 automaker in global vehicle sales for the last three years. Its car lineup includes the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has approved a measure that would move local elections to the fall in odd-numbered years.

The chamber voted 64-58 Thursday to send the bill to the governor.

Supporters say the move would boost voter turnout because people are used to voting in the fall. Critics say it would force elected school board members to take office in the middle of fiscal years, which could disrupt the budgeting process.

The measure also would cancel the state’s presidential primaries. Legislators have canceled the past five primaries because of their cost, opting for caucuses funded by the Republican and Democratic parties.

The bill also would bar general election candidates from dropping out of a race unless experiencing “severe medical hardship.”

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The House has approved a bill that would give Kansas’ secretary of state the power to prosecute election fraud.

The chamber’s 67-55 vote Thursday sends the measure to Republican Governor Sam Brownback.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has sought prosecutorial authority on election fraud cases since taking office in 2011. He has also authored state laws requiring voters to present photo ID.

The bill would also stiffen penalties for election fraud crimes and allow organizations to reward voters with gifts worth less than $3.

Several lawmakers have questioned the necessity of the bill, saying there are relatively few recorded instances of election fraud. Others expressed concern that Kobach might bring charges when prosecutors believed people did not intentionally break the law.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in April, a solid gain that suggests the economy may be recovering after stumbling at the start of the year.

The Labor Department says the unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent in March. That is the lowest level since May 2008, six months into the Great Recession.

Yet the report included signs of sluggishness: March’s already-tepid job gain was revised sharply lower, to just 85,000 from 126,000. In the past three months, employers have added 191,000 positions, a decent gain but down from last year’s average of 260,000.

Construction firms added jobs at a healthy pace, while oil and gas drillers laid off workers for the fourth straight month.

Average hourly wages in April rose just 2.2 percent from a year earlier.