JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Lottery has again set a record for the amount of money it provides to education.

The Lottery said Friday that it transferred nearly $289 million to education during the 2013 fiscal year, which ends this month.

That’s nearly $9 million more than last year’s record and an increase of more than three percent. The amount of Lottery proceeds transferred to education has risen each of the past three years.

Lottery Executive Director May Scheve Reardon cited a new advertising campaign and Powerball changes that made jackpots grow bigger and faster among several reasons for the increased proceeds.

Slightly less than two-thirds of Lottery revenues are returned as prizes. About one-quarter goes to education, 6 percent to retailers and about 4 percent to administration.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 49-year-old Kansas City man convicted in a 1983 rape is out of prison after DNA testing exonerated him and implicated another man.

The Kansas City Star reports Robert Nelson was freed Wednesday from Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron, where he was serving a 70-year sentence.

The Jackson County prosecutor and officials of the Midwest Innocence Project withheld the announcement until Friday, after the new suspect was arrested.

Midwest Innocence Project Executive Director Laura O’Sullivan says Nelson’s lawyer didn’t make basic legal moves to challenge his conviction. O’Sullivan added that the victim misidentified Nelson as one of her attackers.

“Mistaken eyewitness identification is one of the main reasons for wrongful convictions in the U-S,” she said.

Nelson had twice been denied DNA testing. But prosecutors began testing all evidence from the crime in 2011, hoping to find an alleged accomplice. Last year, the Midwest Innocence Project took Nelson’s case and spent more than $40,000 for tests by a private lab.

Nelson began serving the 70-year rape sentence in 2006, after finishing earlier sentences for robbery.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Major insurance companies already have received more than 6,300 claims from people whose property was damaged during recent tornadoes in the St. Louis area.

The state insurance department said Friday that it has received data about the May 31st tornadoes from insurance companies that make up about three-quarters of the state’s homeowners insurance market. They reported that 6,321 claims have been filed so far.

The insurance department said most of those claims relate to damaged homes, though some also could be for vehicles.

The department says it’s monitoring the situation to ensure consumers receive the benefits due under their policies.

The worst damage from the high winds and multiple tornadoes that struck the night of May 31 occurred in St. Charles and St. Louis counties.

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — An eastern Missouri man has received probation for peeping at a teenage girl through a gap around a door frame at a Six Flags St. Louis dressing room.

Jeremy Bates, 20, of Pacific, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor invasion of privacy in a deal with prosecutors. He was sentenced to probation for two years and must undergo a sex offender evaluation, counseling, and refrain from contact with the victim.

The dressing room was at the water park at Six Flags. Authorities say the 13-year-old victim’s mother saw Bates peeping in the area where the girl was undressing.

The mother contacted park officials, who called Eureka police.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Assessment teams have confirmed that at least five tornadoes touched down in north-central Iowa. Officials say no injuries or deaths have been reported from Wednesday’s storms, which damaged homes, businesses and farm buildings.

One that hit within a mile of Belmond rated EF3 on the tornado scale, with winds of 155 mph. Meteorologists say its 200-yard-wide path ran for eight miles.

Another that came down near Belmond was rated EF0, which on the scale means the winds ranged from 65 to 85 mph.

A third tornado struck the ground about a mile north of Alexander, carrying winds estimated at 112 mph, damaging some farm buildings.

Two tornadoes reported near Hampton were rated as an EF1, with 90 mph winds, and an EF0, with winds up to 70 mph.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man who faces more than 100 child pornography charges will get a new attorney.

A Shawnee County judge on Wednesday appointed a new attorney for Jason W. Hachmeister, who said he no longer trusted attorney Napoleon Crews, of Lawrence.

The 39-year-old Hachmeister is charged with 108 counts of sexual exploitation of a child. His trial is scheduled to start June 24.

Hachmeister is charged in another case with killing his mother in 2011.

 

Prosecutors say the child pornography was found on Hachmeister’s personal computer during an investigation into the September 2011 killing of 58-year-old Sheila R. Hachmeister of Topeka.

Jury selection in the murder trial is scheduled to start Sept. 9.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has rejected claims by a former Kansas City, Kan., police detective that he was punished for refusing to conceal a motorist’s beating by federal agents.

U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten issued a summary judgment Wednesday for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, the sheriff and an undersheriff in the 2011 lawsuit brought by Max Seifert.

 

Seifert alleged he suffered retaliation for investigating Drug Enforcement Administration agents involved in a 2003 road-rage incident that left a man with permanent brain damage.

Marten ruled Seifert failed to prove that his testimony in that case led to the suspension of his duties as an investigator and the termination of his reserve commission.

The judge said the defendants presented “credible evidence” they were motivated by concerns from prosecutors about Seifert’s credibility.

DETROIT (AP) — Honda is recalling more than 18,000 cars in the U.S. to fix problems with the brakes.

The recall affects more than 13,000 Acura RSX compact cars from 2006 and the Honda S2000 sports car from the 2006 and 2007 model years.

Honda says some power brake booster parts weren’t made to specifications. That could cause a decrease in braking power over time and could increase the risk of a crash. But the company says it doesn’t know of any accidents or injuries from the problem.

Honda found the problem by watching warranty claims. Owners will be notified by mail in mid-July. Dealers will replace the brake booster if needed.

GALENA, Mo. (AP) – The Stone County Sheriff’s office says it will now alert residents if juveniles escape from a boys ranch.

The new system is a response to a double homicide allegedly committed in January by two boys who escaped from the Lives Under Construction Boys Ranch near Lampe.

 

Anthony Zarro, of Spring, Texas, and Christopher Allen, of Nashville, Tenn., are charged with killing Paul and Margaret Brooks from Baldwin, Mich. The couple died two days after the boys escaped from the ranch.

Before the double homicide, the camp told Stone County sheriff’s officials if a boy escaped but residents weren’t notified. Sheriff Doug Rader says a system is now in place to alert residents.

The two teenagers, who are being tried as adults, are awaiting trial.

KINGMAN, Kan. (AP) — The charred home of a former Kansas lawman convicted of killing his wife and setting fire to their house could be demolished before the end of the month.

Jurors in the south-central Kansas community of Kingman found Brett Seacat guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder, arson and child endangerment in the 2011 death of Vashti Seacat. She was found dead with a gunshot wound to her neck inside the burned-out home.

 

Kingman officials planned to accept bids Thursday to demolish the condemned house. A neighbor, Burel Nicks Jr., says he plans to throw a block party to celebrate after the home is gone.

Brett Seacat is a former Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputy. He was teaching at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center at the time of the killing.