TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court plans to hear arguments from attorneys July 18 on whether a new school funding law complies with the state constitution.

The court set an expedited schedule Monday for its review. A four-page order from Chief Justice Lawton Nuss said the new law will take effect July 1 as planned and remain in force during the court’s review.

The law phases in a $293 million increase in spending on public schools over two years. It also creates a new per-pupil funding formula for the state’s 286 local school districts to provide more funds to programs for low-performing students.

The court ruled in March that the state’s $4 billion a year in education funding is inadequate under the state constitution. Four school districts sued Kansas in 2010.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — State versus state battle lines are being drawn across the Mississippi River, with a top Missouri official urging Illinois regulators to back away from a plan that would allow higher levees, potentially worsening flooding on the Missouri side of the river.

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley sent a letter last month to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources urging the agency to reconsider a proposed rule change that would deregulate levees and allow those already built too high to remain at the unauthorized level. The letter echoes concerns raised by environmentalists and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

But several Illinois lawmakers and some river interests favor higher levees, citing the increasing frequency of severe floods.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A judge has issued an injunction that will temporarily prevent the city of St. Louis from removing a Confederate monument from Forest Park. St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Robert Dierker on Monday issued the injunction and set a July 6 hearing for arguments over whether the city or the Missouri Civil War Museum owns the monument.

The museum filed a lawsuit Friday against the city, contending the United Daughters of the Confederacy signed over the ownership rights to the monument last week.

The city contends it controls the monument and wants to remove it soon.

Dierker’s ruling came as city workers were installing steel rigging on the structure Monday, in preparation for removing the 38-foot monument.

MANKATO, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey says a small earthquake has shaken north-central Kansas.

The Hays Post reports that the 2.9 magnitude earthquake was reported just after 2 a.m. Monday. It was centered 6 miles northwest of the Jewell County town of Mankato. The Jewell County Sherriff’s Department says there have been no reports of damage or injury.

Three other quakes were reported last week in the county. The Geological Survey says their magnitudes ranged from 3.1 to 3.9.

LEOTI, Kan. (AP) — A driver has struck and killed a California man as he biked across Kansas during a cross-country race.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says 61-year-old Eric Fishbein, of San Luis Obispo, California, was killed Saturday night. The patrol says in a crash report that a car hit the bicyclist from behind on Kansas 96, about eight miles east of Leoti near the state’s western border with Colorado.

Fishbein was competing in the 4,300-mile Trans Am Bike Race, which began June 3.

The patrol says the car’s 25-year-old driver and a 27-year-old passenger were taken to a hospital with possible injuries. A 2-year-old boy also was in the car, but wasn’t hurt.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Georgia man is accused of killing a neighbor, stealing his car and later kidnapping a Missouri woman before he was finally apprehended in Kansas.

Prosecutors in Georgia have charged 53-year-old John Czarnecki with murder in the death of 56-year-old Abraham Rudolph Jacobs. Czarnecki and 43-year-old Christopher Smith of Cave Springs, Georgia, are charged with kidnapping and robbery in Missouri.

Police found Jacobs’ body Thursday inside Czarnecki’s apartment in Chamblee, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb. The men lived in the same apartment complex.

Authorities say Czarnecki picked up Smith and they drove Jacobs’ stolen SUV to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where they kidnapped a woman Thursday morning outside a Wal-Mart store. She was taken to a cornfield and robbed but released unharmed.

Both men were arrested Friday night in Grinnell, Kansas.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to life in prison in the killing of a Lincoln, Nebraska, man in the parking lot of central Kansas motel.

The Salina Journal reports that DiAntre Lemmie was sentenced Monday for first-degree murder and five other charges in the April 2016 death of 32-year-old Adonis Loudermilk at the Starlite Motel in Salina. He must serve 25 years of the life term before becoming eligible for parole. He also faces another 11 years for the other charges.

Prosecutors say Loudermilk was shot during a botched robbery. A co-defendant was sentenced last month to nearly 31 years in prison for her role in the killing.

Lemmie was arrested after a chase in which he hoped a curb and traveled about 200 yards in a railroad right-of-way.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Vending machine sales of lottery tickets in Kansas are being blocked by conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

He vetoed a bill that had strong bipartisan support and he declared that an expansion of state-run gambling would hurt the poor the most.

Lottery officials had worked for months to get lawmakers to pass the bill authorizing vending machine sales. They argued that it could boost annual sales by as much as $30 million and generate between $8 million and $10 million in revenues to the state.

Legislators agreed to dedicate much of the state’s proceeds to community mental health services.

Missouri and most other states allow vending machine sales of lottery tickets. Kansas has resisted even after legalizing state-owned casinos.

Brownback has long been wary of expanding legalized gambling.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri plans to encourage more people to adopt research animals.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports the university announced Thursday it will work with Homes for Animal Heroes, a program developed by the National Animal Interest Alliance.

The move comes as a group called Animal Rescue Media Education is suing the university for documents on the 179 dogs and cats used in research. The Missouri system has demanded more than $82,000 to locate and copy records for the Beagle Freedom Project organization.

Pat Wiese, coordinator of the new Missouri adoption effort, said the Beagle Freedom Project is a radical animal rights group that wants to end all animal research.

Kevin Chase, vice president of Animal Rescue, says the National Animal Interest Alliance wants to protect animal research.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — More than 30,000 utility customers in the Kansas City area still lack power after severe storms moved through the area over the weekend.

The Kansas City Star reports the storms knocked down trees and power lines across the area on Saturday night.

Kansas City Power & Light said more than 33,000 utility customers still lacked power Sunday afternoon.

The cities affected by power outages included Kansas City, Gladstone, Blue Springs, Overland Park and Shawnee and Raytown.

Utility officials estimate that some customers might not regain power until Monday evening.