JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Older residents of Missouri could be excused from jury duty under legislation passed by the state Senate.

The bill approved Thursday would allow anyone age 75 or older to ask a court to get out of jury duty. The legislation requires a judge to grant the request.

The exemption would be added to a list of a half-dozen other categories of people who can be excused from jury duty. Those include nursing mothers, health care providers and people for whom jury duty would impose an extreme physical or financial hardship.

The legislation now goes to the House.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman convicted of killing a 52-year-old man has filed a civil case claiming her attorney was ineffective during her trial, including not arguing for a battered woman defense.

An attorney for 24-year-old Sarah Gonzales-McLinn says the post-conviction relief case is not about whether she is guilty but about her trial attorney’s effectiveness.

Gonzales-McLinn, a Topeka native, was convicted in January 2014 of drugging and nearly beheading Harold Sasko at a home they shared in Lawrence. She was sentenced to 50 years with no chance of parole.

The motion alleges Gonzales-McLinn killed Sasko after he kept her in sexual and financial slavery for more than a year.

The motion could result in a 25-year sentence, a new sentencing hearing, a new trial or dismissal.

CALWOOD, Mo. (AP) — Three people have been charged with killing another man in a meth deal that went bad.

The Columbia Missourian reports that Justin Witt, Joey Morris and William Schoening-Scoggins are jailed without bond on several charges, including second-degree murder, in the death of 29-year-old Nathan Pritchett Jr. His body was found Tuesday near the unincorporated Callaway County town of Calwood, which is about 30 miles east of Columbia.

Charging documents say Schoening-Scoggins told law enforcement that he and Morris intended to get methamphetamine from Pritchett. Before meeting Pritchett, Schoening-Scoggins and Morris met with Witt to get counterfeit money to acquire the methamphetamine from Pritchett.

But Pritchett figured out the money was fake. Charging documents say Witt then shot Pritchett with a 20-gauge shotgun.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the public school funding debate in Kansas (all times local):

6:20 p.m.

Kansas legislators have approved Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s plan for increasing public school funding in hopes of satisfying a court mandate.

The vote Thursday in the GOP-controlled House was 76-47. The Senate approved the measure on a 31-8 vote to send it to Kelly. She is expected to sign it.

The bill ties Kelly’s proposal to increase spending on public schools by roughly $90 million to several education policy changes favored by GOP lawmakers.

Kelly pushed her funding proposal as a way to end a protracted education funding lawsuit.

Four school districts sued the state over education funding in 2010. The Kansas Supreme Court said in an order last year that a 2018 law promising additional funding increases wasn’t sufficient because it hadn’t accounted for inflation.

___

4p.m.

The Kansas House has approved Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s plan for increasing public school funding in hopes of satisfying a court mandate.

The vote Thursday in the GOP-controlled chamber was 76-47. The Senate was expected to vote on the measure later Thursday, and its approval would send it to Kelly.

The bill ties Kelly’s proposal to increase spending on public schools by roughly $90 million to several education policy changes favored by GOP lawmakers.

Kelly pushed her funding proposal as a way to end a protracted education funding lawsuit.

Four school districts sued the state over education funding in 2010. The Kansas Supreme Court said in an order last year that a 2018 law promising additional funding increases wasn’t sufficient because it hadn’t accounted for inflation.

___

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the public school funding debate in Kansas (all times local):

6:20 p.m.

Kansas legislators have approved Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s plan for increasing public school funding in hopes of satisfying a court mandate.

The vote Thursday in the GOP-controlled House was 76-47. The Senate approved the measure on a 31-8 vote to send it to Kelly. She is expected to sign it.

The bill ties Kelly’s proposal to increase spending on public schools by roughly $90 million to several education policy changes favored by GOP lawmakers.

Kelly pushed her funding proposal as a way to end a protracted education funding lawsuit.

Four school districts sued the state over education funding in 2010. The Kansas Supreme Court said in an order last year that a 2018 law promising additional funding increases wasn’t sufficient because it hadn’t accounted for inflation.

___

4p.m.

The Kansas House has approved Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s plan for increasing public school funding in hopes of satisfying a court mandate.

The vote Thursday in the GOP-controlled chamber was 76-47. The Senate was expected to vote on the measure later Thursday, and its approval would send it to Kelly.

The bill ties Kelly’s proposal to increase spending on public schools by roughly $90 million to several education policy changes favored by GOP lawmakers.

Kelly pushed her funding proposal as a way to end a protracted education funding lawsuit.

Four school districts sued the state over education funding in 2010. The Kansas Supreme Court said in an order last year that a 2018 law promising additional funding increases wasn’t sufficient because it hadn’t accounted for inflation.

___

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A congressman is chastising the University of Kansas for offering a course titled “Angry White Male Studies.”

Instead of a course to unite people and empower women, KU has decided to offer a class that divides the student population and could pose a Title IX violation by creating a hostile campus environment based on gender. #ksleg https://t.co/XhUNfpFUcW

— Rep. Ron Estes (@RepRonEstes) April 3, 2019

Kansas Republican Rep. Ron Estes was among those turning to social media, lamenting in a tweet that the university has “decided to offer a class that divides the student population.”

The school’s academic catalog says the course will chart “the rise of the ‘angry white male’ in America and Britain since the 1950s, exploring the deeper sources of this emotional state.”

Humanities professor Christopher Forth, himself a white man, will teach the course this fall. Forth and a university spokeswoman didn’t immediately return phone and email messages from The Associated Press.

Other colleges also have been exploring masculinity amid the #MeToo movement, including Duke University, which describes its “Men’s Project” as being “dedicated to interrogating male privilege.”

MARSHALL COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities temporarily closed the Marshall County Clerk’s office, 1201 Broadway Street in Marysville Thursday as they served several search warrants, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

The search warrants are related to an ongoing criminal investigation into alleged conduct by an employee of the Marshall County Clerk’s Office, according to the KBI.

Authorities had not reported an arrest or any possible charges early afternoon Thursday.

Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the three college students who were detained after unfurling banners at the Kansas Statehouse in support of Medicaid expansion.

“Blood on their hands” banners drop in the Statehouse naming Kansas Senate President Wagle and Majority Leader Denning who are blocking over 100,000 Kansans from healthcare access #ExpandMedicaid pic.twitter.com/FpAnamSzTt

— Davis Hammet (@Davis_Hammet) March 27, 2019

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas said Thursday the Kansas restrictions suppress political expression. It seeks a court order prohibiting Kansas from enforcing what ACLU contends are flawed policies.

The litigation stems from an incident last month involving Kansas State University students who hung large banners saying Republican legislators who oppose expanding Medicaid have “blood on their hands.”

The students were initially barred from the Statehouse for a year, but have since been reinstated.

House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a conservative Republican singled out in one of the banners, says the rule is in place to prevent damage to the Statehouse.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri revenues are down 4.3% compared to last fiscal year.

Data released by state Budget Director Dan Haug on Wednesday show most of the decrease is attributable to a drop in individual income tax collections. Those collections were down 8.2% at the end of March.

There could be trouble if net tax collections don’t increase before the fiscal year ends in June.

If the state doesn’t meet revenue targets used to craft this year’s spending plan, Gov. Mike Parson could make budget cuts. It also could throw off plans for next year’s budget.

There are some positive signs. Net revenue collections for March increased 1.4% compared to March 2018. Tax refunds are also down 9.2% for the year so far.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man has been charged with sexually abusing two children, including one at an in-home day care at his home.

Michael Highfill, 51, Springfield, pleaded not guilty Monday to five felonies, including child molestation, stemming from allegations involving two alleged victims.

Court documents say one of them alleged that Highfill touched her sexually on several occasions in 2007 when she was 4 or 5 at the day care. The other person alleged she was touched inappropriately last year when she was 14.

Prosecutors wrote in a bond document that a third person reported similar accusations. But it doesn’t appear he has been charged in connection with those allegations.

Highfill’s bond is set at $75,000 bond. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.