TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some Kansas lawmakers and animal welfare advocates are holding up a bill increasing fees on pet stores, breeders and kennels in hopes that they can also pass more stringent oversight of breeders.

House and Senate negotiators couldn’t agree last week on a bill increasing fees and oversight. They moved forward with only the fee increase. But House members rejected that Thursday and sent the bill back to the negotiating committee.

At issue is a measure to require surprise inspections of breeders, a move supporters say would help address problem breeders, or “puppy mills” that mistreat animals.

Those who oppose surprise inspections say alerting breeders about an inspection ensures someone will be at the facility when inspectors arrive, but doesn’t allow breeders time to hide wrongdoing.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The grandmother of a 7-year-old boy who was killed in Kansas City, Kansas, in 2015 is pushing for tougher regulations of home schools in the state.

Adrian Jones was supposed to be getting schooling at home from the father and stepmother who are now headed for prison for his death.

Kansas does little to regulate home schools beyond requiring parents to register them.

Grandmother Judy Conway has contacted legislators about his case and tougher rules for home schools.

Some legislators want to discuss oversight of home schools. But that’s a tough sell because of the GOP-controlled Legislature’s wariness of stepping on parental rights or what goes on in homes.

Conway said she’s determined to make sure vulnerable children who are home schooled have some contact with people outside their homes.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis jury has awarded a Virginia woman a record-setting $110.5 million in the latest lawsuit alleging that using Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder caused cancer.

The jury ruling Thursday night for 62-year-old Lois Slemp, of Wise, Virginia, comes after three previous St. Louis juries awarded a total of $197 million to plaintiffs who made similar claims.

Slemp was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012. It has since spread to her liver. She blamed her cancer on her use of the company’s talcum-containing products for more than 40 years. About 2,000 women nationwide have filed similar suits over concerns about health damage caused by extended talcum powder use.

Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that it would appeal and disputed the scientific evidence behind the plaintiffs’ allegations.

BENTON, Mo. (AP) — A 59-year-old southeast Missouri man is accused of sexually attacking two girls over the past two years.

The (Cape Girardeau) Southeast Missourian reports that Scott County prosecutors have charged Mark Friend of Benton with five counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, three counts of first-degree statutory rape, and two counts of second-degree child molestation.

A sheriff’s investigator, Jessica Martin, says in a probable-cause statement filed with the criminal complaint that police interviewed the girls, ages 13 and 12, after fielding an anonymous tip that Friend had assaulted them.

Martin wrote that one of the girls told police Friend began assaulting her about two years ago when she was 10, and that the misconduct continued until April 23.

Online court records don’t show whether Friend has an attorney.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri State Archive is helping preserve centuries of documents submerged in 8 feet of water during recent flooding.

The News Tribune reports that administrative archivist John Korasick was alerted early Monday morning that the Carter County Courthouse basement, where the county keeps its paper records, had been filled with water.

He and senior conservator Lisa Fox followed the state agency’s plan for such an emergency and soon had a refrigerated semitrailer for the soggy, warped books and boxes.

The documents are sitting in protected and chilled environment that’s safe from mold. Archive staff will assist in sorting and drying the various documents later.

State Archivist John Dougan says he is pleased Carter County officials were quick to involve his office in preserving the documents.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has pledged to fund nearly 50 stream gauges used to monitor potential flooding along rivers.

The Springfield News-Leader reports the Missouri Water Science Center in Rolla manages more than 270 real-time gauges, but 49 of them were scheduled for deactivation in July due to unspecified threats to funding. Gauges cost $14,600 annually to operate.

The data provided by the gauges are used for a variety of purposes, and the U.S. Geological Survey partners with agencies such as the Natural Resources Department to fund and operate the gauges.

The National Weather Service uses the data from the water-monitoring devices to predict floods, such as those that recently ravaged southern Missouri.

FOLEY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities in northeast Missouri’s Lincoln County say 30 railroad cars loaded with coal have derailed after the train hit a dump truck that pulled into its path.

The truck’s driver was taken to a hospital after the crash involving the BNSF Railway train shortly after 11 a.m. Friday in a rural area near Foley. His medical status was not immediately known.

BNSF spokesman Andy Williams said no one aboard the train that included two locomotives and more than 100 coal cars was injured.

He could not immediately say how long it would take for the tracks to be cleared.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Harvard University is convening four former governors at a forum to discuss their states’ experiences grappling with the opioid addiction crisis and the impacts of actions being taken in Washington.

The panel discussion Friday features Ted Strickland of Ohio, Linda Lingle of Hawaii, Jay Nixon of Missouri and Steven Beshear of Kentucky. Beshear is the school’s Menschel senior fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health this year.

Expected topics include prescription drug monitoring programs, treatment vouchers, use of the addiction antidote naloxone and crackdowns on illegal supply streams.

The governors also will discuss the goals of federal legislation aimed at fighting the epidemic and the role of the Trump administration’s opioid task force.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri senators have passed a plan to prevent cuts to in-home and nursing care for seniors and people with disabilities.

Senators voted 28-5 Thursday to spend as much as $35.4 million to keep those services intact.

Republican Gov. Eric Greitens initially recommended reducing in-home and nursing care to save money.

House members earlier Thursday passed a proposed budget that softened those cuts. But more than 8,300 senior and disabled Missourians would be at risk of losing state help under that plan.

Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick had pushed to end a tax break for low-income seniors and disabled renters to spare those cuts to in-home and nursing care.

But that proposal also met pushback.

Senators instead want to pull unused money from a wide variety of state coffers in order to protect the services for seniors and people with disabilities.