LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Former Kansas football player Chris Martin and two other men have pleaded not guilty in a robbery case stemming from a home invasion in Lawrence.

Martin, Jeremiah Letrell Edwards and Joshua Edwards pleaded Monday and were ordered to return to court in July to set a trial date.

The three men were arrested in May after a Lawrence man reported he had been held at gunpoint in his home and robbed of money and marijuana on May 13.

Martin, a four-star defensive end, never played a game for Kansas. Coach Charlie Weis dismissed Martin from the team in June, saying he had not followed rules he was asked to follow while the criminal case was pending in court.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports Martin is in plea negotiations with prosecutors.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A medical examiner has identified a body found over the weekend in the Missouri River near Kansas City as 20-year-old Cody M. Siwek of Overland Park, Kan.

The body was recovered Saturday morning in Clay County after it was spotted by a fisherman. Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Bill Lowe says an early investigation indicated Siwek drowned but an investigation is continuing.

Fifty-year-old Philip Andra Grigsby, of Marquette, faced a restitution hearing Monday before the same federal judge who sentenced him in May to 260 years in prison.

His attorney has already filed a notice of appeal in the case.

Grigsby pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexually exploiting a child. He also pleaded guilty to possessing child porn and illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

The investigation began after Grigsby sent emails containing child porn to an Australian man. Investigators were able to identify the victim after noticing the name of a middle school on a physical fitness certificate.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s new license plate honoring Union Pacific railroad’s history in the state has been named the best new license plate in the country.

The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association picked the special Nebraska license plate that was issued last year.

That’s when the railroad celebrated its 150th anniversary.

Nebraska’s Union Pacific plate beat out designs from 12 other states because of its attractiveness and its legibility.

The specialty license plate raises money for the nonprofit Friends of the Union Pacific Museum group. The museum is in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Rhonda Lahm, who leads Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles, says the license plate honors UP’s contributions to the state and highlights the urban and rural areas of Nebraska.

LANSING, Kan. (AP) — Eight minimum-security inmates have walked away from the state’s prison in Lansing in the past three years. But officials there are confident in their security systems.

All eight were eventually recaptured, including the latest to escape. Paul Cohagen was found Thursday. He was a plumber at the prison, a job that gave him the freedom of movement to escape from minimum security.

Prison spokesman Jeremy Barclay tells The Leavenworth Times the number of escapes is small in proportion to the inmate population. He says higher security prisoners rarely escape. Escapes from minimum security are more likely because inmates are allowed more freedom for their jobs.

Barclay says the prison offers classes for inmates on the consequences of leaving and studies each escape to find ways to improve security.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bicycle riders in Kansas City will have an easier time navigating downtown streets beginning sometime next year.

The City Council recently approved plans to paint 12 miles of downtown bike lanes in 2014. The project will also provide links to the city’s east side and to bike routes just over the state line in Kansas.

The approval for downtown striping is part of the “Bike KC” program adopted in 2002. Progress on implementing the plan has been slow. The program envisioned a 600-mile system, but signs marking the first 175 miles only started going up this spring.

Next year’s project will also complete some unfinished links to downtown Kansas City, Kansas and a popular bicycle commuting route to Johnson County, Kansas.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A suburban St. Louis woman’s day went from bad to worse when she set her house on fire while using a lighter to search for her keys.

The fire broke out Friday night. Officials with the Berkeley Fire Department said the woman was using the lighter to search for her keys underneath her bed and lit her mattress on fire.

The fire spread to the bed and destroyed half the home.

Four or five people who were inside the home escaped without injuries.

The tree-killing emerald ash borer has been found in two more southern Missouri counties, prompting the Missouri Department of Agriculture to place quarantines on the movement of ash wood products in those counties.

State ag officials said Friday that the insect has been identified in Bollinger and Pulaski counties. The quarantine prohibits ash tree products such as logs, lumber, compost, nursery stock and hardwood firewood out of those counties. It’s part of an effort to slow the spread of the insect.

The emerald ash borer is native to China and eastern Asia. It was first detected in the U.S. in 2002 and is now in 15 states.

The insect was first discovered in Missouri in July 2008 in Wayne County. It has now been found in six Missouri counties.