JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court is considering whether some of the state’s abortion restrictions violate the religious beliefs of a woman who is part of the Satanic Temple.

An attorney for the woman made the unusual argument Tuesday as he asked Missouri’s highest court to block the state’s mandatory three-day waiting period for abortions and requirements that doctors providing abortions give women a booklet that says “the life of each human being begins at conception,” offer them an ultrasound and give them an opportunity to hear the fetal heartbeat.

The woman traveled from southeastern Missouri to St. Louis for an abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015. The woman, whose name is not revealed in court documents, did eventually obtain an abortion. But in a letter to her doctors that was included in court documents, she wrote that some of the state’s restrictions on abortion conflict with her beliefs to follow scientific understanding of the world.

The Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple doesn’t believe in a literal Satan but sees the biblical Satan as a metaphor for rebellion against tyranny. The group has waged religious battles around the U.S. in recent years, including pushing unsuccessfully to install a statute of the goat-headed idol Baphomet outside the Arkansas and Oklahoma state capitols as counterpoints to Ten Commandments monuments. Members also proposed “After School Satan Clubs” in elementary schools from Oregon to Georgia where evangelical Christian “Good News Clubs” are operating.

James MacNaughton, an attorney for the Satanic Temple member suing over Missouri’s abortion restrictions, told the state Supreme Court that the government “should not be in the business of preaching.”

“It is a bedrock principle of our culture (and) of our country that we choose for ourselves what to believe by way of religious beliefs,” he said. “It’s not the business of government to tell us that.”

The state attorney general’s office, which is defending the abortion restrictions, argues that Missouri laws protecting religious freedom don’t apply. Solicitor General John Sauer told the court those laws protect the woman only if she’s being blocked from practicing her beliefs or is being forced to do something against her religion. She’s now fighting a booklet, for example, that she has said she’s already read, Sauer said.

Judge Laura Denvir Stith also questioned MacNaughton on whether his client was forced to act against her religious beliefs, noting that doctors must provide the booklet, but that doesn’t mean women have to accept it.

“She wasn’t forced to say she agreed with it,” Stith said. “She was given a brochure but wasn’t required to read it.”

Twenty-seven states require a waiting period for an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a national research group that supports abortion rights. Missouri is one of four states with the longest waiting period — 72 hours.

FORSYTH, Mo. (AP) – A Branson man whose cement truck overturned and fell onto a car, killing the car’s driver, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Taney County prosecutors say 57-year-old Michael Glidewell was sentenced Tuesday to consecutive sentences of 15 years for involuntary manslaughter and five years for driving while intoxicated as an aggravated offender.

Prosecutors say Glidewell was driving the truck in November 2016 one mile east of Branson when it overturned, killing 34-year-old Talat Kopurtas of Branson. Investigators said Glidewell was speeding for the conditions and his blood alcohol level was 0.092 percent.

Five days before that crash, Glidewell was arrested for an aggravated DWI offense. His blood alcohol level was 0.15 percent. The DWI was charged as a felony because Glidewell had at least three prior DWIs.

TOPEKA– Kansas Governor Sam Brownback Tuesday issued an executive order authorizing a $5,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of those who participated in the murder of Ottawa County resident Cindy Ann Easom.

Eason was 33, 5-foot-5 inches tall and weighed approximately 100 pounds. She was last seen in Baxter Springs, Kansas at approximately 6:00 AM on Thursday December 7, 2017 and just prior to that, investigators believe she was in Miami, Oklahoma.

Easom was found alive floating in the Elk City Reservoir with multiple gun shots to her head, but died a short time later.

“I encourage anyone with knowledge of this crime or the suspect to immediately contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office or the KBI,” Governor Brownback said.

The reward was authorized at the request of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Attorney General’s office. Anyone with information relating to this crime should immediately contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 620-330-1000 or the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-KSCRIME.

“This would go a long way in helping us achieve justice for the victim,” said Montgomery County Sheriff Bob Dierks, “We appreciate any information we could receive toward solving this case.”

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

The U.S. Department of Education has thrown its weight behind a Kansas school plan that aims for much higher rates of math and reading proficiency by 2030.

Initial feedback from the federal agency on Kansas’ 90-page blueprint for closing achievement gaps had been lackluster, forcing the state to revise it.

The federal government questioned whether Kansas was complying with the 2015 civil rights law that requires drawing up plans to level the educational playing field and hold schools accountable in exchange for federal funding.

Kansas education officials were confident they could answer the federal government’s questions about how the state would gauge academic progress and improve schools where students struggle year after year. They spent weeks changing and clarifying their submission in collaboration with their federal counterparts.

Federal approval came Friday, clearing the way to receive hundreds of millions of dollars to help Kansas achieve its academic goals. Among them, graduating 95 percent of high schoolers — compared to 86 percent today.

In September, the Kansas News Service reported that state education officials sidestepped a broader public discussion in crafting their plan.

Some civil rights advocates criticized the Kansas plan for not doing enough to hold schools accountable for serving minorities, children with disabilities and other historically underserved groups. Kansas officials say they developed a school accountability plan that strikes a balance between the need for data on school performance and the risk of gathering statistically unsound numbers from smaller schools.

Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. –  A Georgia man has been sentenced in federal court for using dozens of stolen identities to file fraudulent tax returns seeking $258,063 in refunds, according to Timothy A. Garrison, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri,

Jalen Ortez Gude, 25, of Hillsboro, Ga., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough on Monday, Jan. 22, 2018, to six years and nine months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Gude to pay $163, 305 in restitution.

On Aug. 24, 2017, Gude pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of identity theft. Gude admitted that, between January 2014 and March 13, 2015, he used the stolen identity information of at least 46 victims (including their names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth) to file fraudulent tax returns and receive tax refunds from both the federal government and the state of Missouri. According to court documents, those victims included residents of Cole County, Mo., whose stolen identity information had been released over the Internet.

The IRS stopped $94,592 in refunds from being processed; as a result, the aggregate amount of restitution due is $163,305 to 10 of Gude’s victims.

Gude opened bank accounts in the names of his identity theft victims so that the IRS and the Missouri Department of Revenue would transfer the refunds to bank accounts he controlled. This process permitted Gude to remain anonymous and to conduct his scheme, in part, from outside Missouri. Gude also used the stolen identity information to submit fraudulent online credit applications at banks and credit card companies.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — The governing body for the state’s third largest school district is looking into reversing a rule that prohibited complaints about school board members.

At issue is a Shawnee Mission school district policy regarding public participation at meetings.

The policy came under fire in November, when the board added school board members to the list of individuals that shouldn’t be publicly criticized.

The ACLU decried the change as “clearly unconstitutional.” Since then, three board members have retired or weren’t re-elected.

Board members tasked with reviewing the policy said Monday that they’d be willing to strike the ban on criticizing board members. But they also warned that official changes would likely take time, as the board continues to consult experts and collect public feedback.