SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Former Missouri auditor’s spokesman Spence Jackson is being remembered at his funeral as a gregarious guy who was passionate about politics.

Jackson’s funeral was held Friday in his hometown of Springfield, two weeks after he fatally shot himself in what police describe as a suicide.

Jackson’s death came a month after his boss, Auditor Tom Schweich (shwyk), also fatally shot himself.

Their deaths have shaken Missouri politics, particularly the Republican Party.

Jefferson City police say Jackson left a note expressing concern about losing his job, which would have been possible when the governor appoints a new permanent auditor.

At his funeral, Jackson’s friends, family and co-workers recalled his quick wit and dedication to his work.

Among the 150 in attendance was former Governor Matt Blunt, for whom Jackson once worked.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon says increased state general revenues from an improving economy make cuts in the Senate’s proposed budget for services for foster children and people with mental illnesses unnecessary.

Nixon on Friday called on lawmakers to restore the $130 million cut from the House version of the 2016 budget for programs for seniors, people with disabilities and foster children.

He says an increase in state revenues so far this year means there will be about $80 million more available for the fiscal year 2016 budget.

The Senate’s top budget writer, Republican Sen. Kurt Schaefer, has proposed lumping together most programs in three departments and reducing the House’s proposed increase.

The House rejected adopting that proposal. Now lawmakers must work out differences on the $26 billion budget plan.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A court case claiming that a person who robbed a bank but did not make an explicit threat should be charged with a lesser crime is getting notice in the Missouri Legislature.

The Missouri House passed a bill Thursday that would make theft from a financial institution a class B felony punishable by five to 15 years in prison in all cases. The measure passed 133-20.

Bill sponsor Rep. Sandy Crawford, a Republican and former banker, says bank employees are traumatized even if they aren’t threatened during a robbery.

The lawyer for a man who robbed a bank in New Bloomfield told the Missouri Supreme Court in February her client should be charged with stealing, which carries a lighter sentence, because the current robbery law requires a threat of force.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The father of a 20-year-old man accused of planning a suicide attack at Fort Riley says he’s glad authorities arrested his son and no one was hurt.

Federal prosecutors say John Booker Jr. was arrested Friday while trying to arm what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb near the Kansas military base. He’s being held on federal charges.

His father, John Booker Sr., told The Associated Press that his son moved out of the family’s Topeka home after high-school graduation. He’s spoken to him four times in the last year.

He says he and his wife are Christian, and he doesn’t know whether his son was Muslim.

The elder Booker says he’s an Army veteran and he did everything a father should do. He says once children turn 18, “parents have no control.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eight Kansas City charities will share in $500,000 in grants from Wells Fargo.

The company announced Thursday that the money will go to programs that provide workforce training and help homeless and at-risk families find homes. The nonprofits benefiting are Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Guadalupe Centers Inc., Kansas Children’s Service League, ReEngage, ReStart, Sheffield Place, the Women’s Employment Network and the Greater Kansas City Housing Information Center.

The donations are part of a Wells Fargo program that has invested $242 million nationally to communities that were hit hard by the housing crisis. Of the 32 communities that have benefited, $6.65 million has gone to Kansas City.

CENTRALIA, Mo. (AP) — Spring storms in Missouri have toppled power poles and trees, damaged billboards and caused minor injuries at a trailer park in the central part of the state.

The National Weather Service issued numerous tornado and thunderstorm advisories Thursday as the system moved across the state. Winds of at least 60 miles per hour were reported in some communities.

Centralia dispatcher Zach Foltz said strong winds blew a tree onto a trailer with people inside and that a few of them sustained minor injuries. Winds also were blamed for damaging six billboards in southwest Missouri’s Christian County.

In Lincoln County in the eastern part of the state, a trained spotter reported that four or five power poles had been snapped.

The storm also pelted Fort Leonard Wood and several communities with hail.

DALLAS (AP) — Days after a foodborne illness was linked to Blue Bell ice cream products, an inspection of an Oklahoma plant later tied to the infection praised the facility for having no violations and doing a “great” job.

But an official with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry said Thursday that inspectors had no reason to check for listeria during the routine March 18th review.

Stan Stromberg, director of the department’s food safety division, said no problems were detected and the facility didn’t have a history of issues linked to the illness. He says his agency wasn’t notified until March 22nd that listeria was connected to the now-closed plant.

The inspection report obtained by The Associated Press commends the facility for having no violations, noting “Great Job!” Keep it up!”

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Two 34-year-old men have been accused in the death of a 33-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, woman 17 years ago.

Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome filed charges Thursday against Jason Lanell Rucker of Kansas City, Kansas, and Torry Mashone Johnson, currently incarcerated in the Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri.

The two were charged in the Juvenile Division of Wyandotte County District Court with first-degree murder in the October 1997 death of Vicky Ernst inside her home.

Rucker was 17 and Johnson was 16 at the time of Ernst’s death. Gorman says the charges came after police followed up on newly developed leads.

Johnson is being held in Wyandotte County jail on $1 million bond.

Neither man had obtained an attorney Thursday afternoon.