JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and state legislative budget leaders are projecting that the state will bring in roughly $200 million less in revenue than expected this year.

The revised estimate released Tuesday would represent 1.9 percent growth compared to last fiscal year. That’s half of what lawmakers were banking on when they passed this year’s budget.

Greitens has already cut roughly $250 million in an attempt to balance the budget.

Greitens and his fellow Republican House and Senate budget leaders also are projecting modest revenue growth of 2.5 percent for the next fiscal year, which begins in July.

That could set Greitens and lawmakers up for some potentially difficult decisions as they start work to craft a spending plan for next year. Greitens has not yet unveiled his budget proposal.

TOPEKA — Kansas legislators heard what Republican Gov. Sam Brownback proposes on funding for public schools in his annual State of the State address.

Brownback gave the annual speech Tuesday evening at 5p.m. Watch a replay here.

This is the term-limited Republican governor’s last address.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is not advising the agency on election fraud issues.

But Kobach told The Kansas City Star on Monday that the White House has informed him that it wants him to work closely with President Donald Trump and his team.

He said his role is not formal and has not been fleshed out after Trump disbanded a commission on election fraud. Kobach was the commission’s vice chairman.

Acting DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton told The AP in an email last week that Kobach was not advising the department. He told The Star on Monday that Kobach was not advising the agency formally or informally.

The White House said DHS would handle any future election fraud review.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) – A man has been charged in a suburban Kansas City police chase that ended in a head-on collision and fire.

Eighteen-year-old Dennis Mead III was charged Monday in Jackson County with resisting a lawful stop and creating a substantial risk of serious injury or death after fleeing Independence police Sunday in a stolen sport utility vehicle. Prosecutors requested $150,000 bond.

A detective wrote in court records that Mead hit one person standing by the SUV as the chase began, causing minor injuries. Police say the chase ended when he hit a pickup truck head-on, causing it to catch fire. Police say a woman in the SUV with Mead was ejected in the crash. Three people in the pickup truck were hurt.

HILLSBORO, Mo. (AP) – Two teenagers are dead after being struck by a car while trying to get their stalled vehicle off an eastern Missouri roadway.

Authorities say 19-year-old Genevieve Brown of Festus and 18-year-old Warsha Kumar of Yakima, Washington, were driving a 2002 Land Rover Discovery Monday evening when it stalled on a Jefferson County roadway, near Hillsboro. People from two other vehicles were helping push the disabled car off the road.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a 2015 Jeep Cherokee rear-ended the Land Rover, pushing it off the side of the road, where it hit a rock bluff. The Jeep then struck two other vehicles.

The elderly driver and passenger in the Jeep are hospitalized with moderate injuries.

MANHATTAN – The Riley County Police Department officer who was injured when responding to a domestic disturbance January 5 is sending his appreciation to the community for their support. RCPD Sergeant Pat Tiede’s thumbs up appeared late Monday on social media.

The 18-year veteran of the department, presently serving in the Patrol Division and his family thanked the community for the outpouring of support and concern that has been shown during this time, as detailed in a media release from RCPD.

Tiede was shot after responding to the report of a domestic situation at a home in the 3700 block of Hawthorne Woods Circle. He received a non-life threatening gunshot wound. He is continuing his recovery at home.

The shooting suspected identified as 38-year-old Mark Jason Harrison was charged Monday with three counts of attempted capital murder., according to Riley County District Attorney Barry Wilkerson.

Harrison worked as a research associate at K-State, according to the university web site.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man accused of killing a former Topeka school principal has pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors say 24-year-old Calvin Phillips Jr. pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping for in May 2016 death of Curt Cochran. The pleas came as attorneys began picking jurors to hear Phillips’ trial.

As part of the plea deal, Phillips will be required to testify against a co-defendant, Michael Hall, who is charged with murder.

Co-workers discovered Cochran’s body in a Topeka warehouse. Investigators say he was tied to a chair and his head was wrapped in plastic. He was beaten and his throat was cut.

Cochran was part owner of a company that used the warehouse. He previously was a teacher and principal in the Seaman School District from 1975 to 2000.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s nomination for an ambassador’s post will be resubmitted to the U.S. Senate.

The Kansas City Star reports the White House said Monday that Brownback is one of dozens of officials who will be renominated Monday by President Donald Trump.

Brownback was first nominated last July to become ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom but the nomination was opposed by Democrats and LGBT groups.

He is one of dozens of officials who will be renominated by the president on Monday because they were not confirmed by the Senate after Democrats refused to allow their nominations to roll over into the new year.

It is not clear when a vote on Brownback’s nomination will occur.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Topeka police have identified a woman who was found dead inside an apartment after a 16-hour standoff with law enforcement officials as 33-year-old Tiffany Montalvo, of Eudora.

According to a media release form Lt. Colleen Stuart, Montalvo and 33-year-old Juan Lucio, of Topeka, died during the standoff. They were found dead Friday after police sent chemicals into the home.

A preliminary investigation indicates the deaths were a murder-suicide, according to Stuart. It will take weeks to complete toxicology reports for Lucio and Montalvo.

No officers were injured during the incident.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on a Kansas state lawmaker’s remarks that marijuana and other drugs originally were outlawed in part because blacks “responded worst” to them because of “genetics and that” (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

A white Kansas state lawmaker has apologized for suggesting that blacks have a genetic predisposition to abusing drugs.

Republican state Rep. Steve Alford, of the western Kansas town of Ulysses, said in a statement that he was wrong and regrets the remarks he made Saturday during public meeting at a hospital.

He said: “I sincerely apologize to anyone whom I have hurt.”

At the meeting, The 75-year-old Alford argued against legalizing any use of marijuana. He suggested it and other drugs were originally outlawed in part because blacks were “basically users” and “responded worst” to the drugs because of their “character makeup — their genetics and that.”

Alford said in his statement that he opposes legalizing any use of marijuana because doing so opens the door to harder drugs.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A white Kansas state lawmaker arguing against the legalization of any use of marijuana suggested that it and other drugs were originally outlawed in part because blacks were “basically users” and “responded worst” to the drugs because of their “character makeup — their genetics and that.”

State Rep. Steve Alford, a 75-year-old Republican from Ulysses, in the west of the state, made the comments Saturday during a public meeting at a hospital in Garden City. The Garden City Telegram first reported on the statement Monday and posted a video of it to YouTube.

Kansas is one of the few remaining states that haven’t legalized some form of medical marijuana, including low-THC marijuana derivatives that can’t get a user high. But the legalization question has been percolating in Kansas in recent years.

At the meeting, Alford referenced a time in the 1930s when marijuana was prohibited.

“What was the reason they did that?” he asked a crowd of about 60 people, none of whom were black. “One of the reasons why — I hate to say it — is the African-Americans, they were basically users and they responded the worst off to those drugs. It’s because of their character makeup — their genetics and that. And so basically what we’re trying to do, is we’re trying to do a complete reverse of the people not remembering what’s happened in the past.”

Asked about his remarks Monday by The Associated Press, Alford said: “I’m not going make any more remarks about that. To me, that’s neutral. Basically, I got called a racist, which I’m really not, and it’s just the way people — the interpretation of people. To me, I’m trying to look at what’s really the best for Kansas.”

Alford said the marijuana issue is very important to him because he believes it’s a gateway drug that introduces user to other drugs.

“I’m really looking for the safety of the people of Kansas, the children of Kansas, the adults of Kansas,” Alford said during a brief interview.