JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri GOP is calling on an attorney for the secretary of state to recuse herself from investigating outgoing Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley.

Missouri GOP spokesman Chris Nuelle on Wednesday said Secretary of State Deputy General Counsel Khristine Heisinger has a conflict because she donated to Hawley’s former rival, Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, and other Democrats.

Hawley unseated McCaskill in November.

Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s office is investigating Hawley following allegations by a liberal group that he misused public resources to boost his Senate bid.

Hawley’s office has called the claims frivolous.

Ashcroft told The Kansas City Star that he’s confident in Heisinger and says she takes her duty to serve in a nonpartisan manner seriously.

Heisinger gave about $2,750 to McCaskill’s 2006 and 2012 campaigns.

OZARK COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 8p.m. Wednesday in Ozaark County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Dodge Ram driven by Luke A. Freiman, 47, Caulfield, was northbound on Route H ten miles south of Dora.

The pickup traveled off the left side of the road and the driver overcorrected. The pickup skidded, traveled off the left side of the road, overturned and ejected the driver.

Freiman was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Court records say DNA has connected a man to several rapes in Louisiana and Missouri spanning more than a decade.

34-year-old Daniel Meridy is jailed in New Orleans on $1.6 million bond on suspicion of four counts each of first-degree rape and aggravated kidnapping. There’s no record of an attorney for him.

New Orleans police say those four alleged assaults happened at gun or knifepoint from 2015 to 2018. Police say one woman was raped in an alley after getting off a bus, while another was assaulted after accepting a ride from Meridy.

Police also say DNA linked Meridy to three unsolved stranger sexual assaults in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2004 and 2005. No charges have been filed in Missouri, although prosecutors say it’s an open investigation.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Police say a Missouri woman charged with murder in the road-rage death of another motorist admitted to being on drugs after the crash.

Springfield police allege 46-year-old Elizabeth McKeown told officers she had taken several drugs prior to the Nov. 20 crash, including heroin and MDMA. McKeown has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of 57-year-old Barbara Foster.

Court records say McKeown told police she “decided to hit” Foster’s car because she was in a hurry. McKeown then told police she “tricked” Foster and “slammed into her and cut her in half” when Foster was assessing her car’s damage.

Police haven’t yet determined if McKeown was under the influence of any drug at the time.

McKeown’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A 29-year-old Kansas man is charged with posting a nude photograph of a former intimate partner online just months after pleading guilty in a similar crime.

Matthew David Delair, of Overland Park, was free on bond and scheduled to be sentenced next month after he pleaded guilty in August to three counts of breach of privacy for posting nude pictures of a woman online.

Delair was arrested Tuesday and on Wednesday was charged with a new count of breach of privacy. Court records indicate the charge involves the same woman from the previous case.

Delair’s bond in the new case is $50,000.

Johnson County records show Delair also is on probation in two indecent exposure cases involving four different victims in Olathe in 2017.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov.-elect Laura Kelly’s inaugural committee on Wednesday slashed the prices of premium seating for her inaugural ball after facing questions about 10-person packages it was offering for $10,000, which is five times the legal limit for contributions.

The Associated Press obtained an email in which the committee’s chairwoman said the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission had “reversed” its approval of the committee’s earlier plans. The commission’s executive director cited “confusion” about a long-standing rule on how the limits on contributions to inaugural festivities applied to tickets for the traditional ball and dinner.

The inaugural committee is now offering its “gold” package for $3,000, which gives the buyer a premium table with 10 seats and six tickets to a VIP reception with the new Democratic governor and Lt. Gov.-elect Lynn Rogers.

Kansas governors rely on private funding to pay for such festivities and a 1994 law limits contributions by a single individual, business or group to $2,000. The ethics commission said in a 1994 legal opinion that when tickets are sold, the value of food, entertainment and other services are subtracted from the ticket price to determine the size of the contribution.

Had the inaugural committee wanted to keep its $10,000 price, it would have had to value its food, entertainment, administrative costs and other services, such as security, at $800 per person.

“They’ve been reaching out very actively throughout the process and have worked with us pretty closely,” said Mark Skoglund, the ethics commission’s executive director. “I’m confident this is a good solution.”

Kelly is due to be sworn in Jan. 14 at a Statehouse ceremony and the ball will be held that evening, with a single ticket costing $100. The inaugural committee has said it is planning a VIP reception for the day before and a series of free community events and a day of service on Jan. 12.

The inaugural committee announced its change in ticket-package-prices the day after the AP reported on its plan to offer a $10,000 package.

Kelly’s staff on Tuesday provided to the AP a copy of a Dec. 7 email in which Skoglund said the text of a committee email to prospective donors outlining ticket packages “looks fine,” while including a link to a copy of the 1994 legal opinion online.

“We worked closely with their staff — including getting their written approval of our prices — to ensure it followed the law,” Kelly spokeswoman Ashley All said Wednesday. “Unfortunately, yesterday they reversed this approval causing us to revise the packages and ticket prices.”

Skoglund said the commission told the inaugural committee that any pricing plan was fine, so long as it was in line with the commission’s legal opinion.

“There was just some confusion about the application of that decision, which we helped them through, subsequently,” he said. “Everyone was aware of the rules. It was just a matter of making sure everyone was on the same page.”

The new pricing plan treats the first $2,000 of the $3,000 gold package’s cost as a contribution to the committee and the remaining $1,000 as covering the cost of 10 tickets. The committee’s email to donors notes that with a married couple, it still would be legal for the spouse of a person buying the package to contribute another $2,000 separately.

There are also “silver” and “bronze” packages worth $2,000 and $1,500, respectively, also for a 10-person table.

Ozark officials said in a news release Tuesday that the Freedom From Religion Foundation said the cross in the Finley River Park holiday display violates the principle of separation of church and state.

In a news release Tuesday, Ozark officials said leaving a religious symbol on public property will result in a lawsuit that the city couldn’t win. The city cited cases around the U.S. where public entities have lost similar cases.

The Springfield News-Leader reports the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is based in Madison, Wisconsin, said if filed the complaint after being contacted by an Ozark citizen.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman who embezzled a combined $1.5 million from Black & Veatch and Garmin International has lost her appeal of an eight-year prison sentence.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal filed by Patricia Webb. The 46-year-old claimed the sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in Kansas City was unreasonable. It was a departure from federal sentencing guidelines, which called for a maximum sentence of six years and nine months.

Webb was convicted of stealing more than $1.2 million from Garmin International while working in the Olathe-based company’s payroll department. After leaving Garmin, she was hired to a similar payroll position with Overland Park-based Black & Veatch, where she embezzled more than $300,000 from the company.