TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer

MILFORD, Mich. (AP) — General Motors CEO Mary Barra says the company has enough parts available to fix all the faulty ignition switches that are blamed for at least 23 deaths nationwide.

Barra told reporters at an investor conference Wednesday that GM’s parts supplier finished making the parts a few days before a goal of early October. GM recalled 2.6 million cars in February and says it has repaired about 1.1 million. That’s just under half the vehicles when scrapped cars are excluded.

Barra says GM is trying to get the rest of the owners to bring their cars in for repairs.

She also says GM sees nothing to indicate that it will spend more than the $400 million to $600 million it has estimated to compensate ignition switch crash victims.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A Hutchinson woman who was critically injured in May while helping another driver at an accident scene near Kansas City is ready to return to her former life.

Lacey Deardoff of Hutchinson spent 50 days in hospitals and weeks of rehabilitation in Hutchinson since she was injured on a freeway in Overland Park. She had stopped to at the accident scene when another driver swerved to avoid debris and hit her and the other driver.

The Hutchinson News reports that Deardoff, the daughter of Hutchinson’s city manager, was unconscious for two weeks before waking up. She returned to Hutchinson in July to continue her rehabilitation.

Deardoff says she plans to move back to the Kansas City area Wednesday and return to work in about a month.

LEAWOOD, Kan. (AP) — Federal attorneys and a Kansas-based bitcoin company are negotiating over whether the company could resume some of its operations.

The Federal Trade Commission has sued Butterfly Labs, based in Leawood, claiming the company defrauded consumers out of between $20 million to $50 million. Butterfly Labs is under temporary control of a federally appointed receiver.

The Kansas City Star reports that after a hearing Monday, the temporary order was extended and attorneys began negotiations.

The FTC alleges Butterfly Labs did not deliver machines or sent worthless equipment that could not produce bitcoins.

Butterfly Labs has denied wrongdoing and called the FTC action “heavy-handed.”

Bitcoins are virtual currency that is becoming popular as a way to buy and sell some goods and services without using government-issued money.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A monthly economic survey index for nine Midwestern and Plains dropped in September, suggesting slowing economic growth in the months ahead.

A survey report issued Wednesday says the overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index dropped nearly three percentage points to 54.3, from 57.2 the previous month.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, says a drop in grain prices over the past year has led to a pullback in economic activity for the heavily agrarian region.

The survey results from supply managers are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests economic growth, while a score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas authorities are warning residents to beware of a new scam that’s using the names of judges in an attempt to solicit money.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office says a person has been calling people claiming to be a command officer from a fictitious Federal Warrants Division at the Johnson County Courthouse.

The caller tells potential victims they have a federal warrant and will be arrested if they don’t pay the fine. The sheriff’s office says the scammer names an actual judge by name and claims the judge is angry so they need to pay with a prepaid debit card.

The office says the procedure for contacting people with warrants does not include demanding immediate bond payment.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Overland Park police are looking for a taxi driver after a woman told them he sexually assaulted her in his cab.

Spokesman Gary Mason tells KCTV-TV  the woman in her early 20s took the cab Tuesday after drinking with friends. The woman sat in the front seat and says the driver sexually assaulted her on her way home.

Mason says authorities are concerned the driver could have harmed others. Police haven’t released information about the suspect.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new government report says this year’s winter wheat production in Kansas is at the lowest level since 1989.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Tuesday winter wheat production is estimated at 246 million bushels, down 23 percent from a year ago.

Kansas farmers planted 9.6 million acres for the 2014 wheat crop. That was about 1 percent more wheat acreage than a year earlier, but production was still down in part because farmers actually harvested just 8.8 million acres.

Also affecting production were lower yields averaging 28 bushels an acre — 10 bushels an acre below last year.

The report also estimates this year’s Kansas oat production at 840,000 bushels, about the same as last year. Barley production is estimated at 350,000, down 32 percent from a year ago.

ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Published reports say President Barack Obama rode an elevator this month with an armed security contractor who had three criminal convictions, a violation of Secret Service security protocols.

The latest embarrassment for the Secret Service comes after agency Director Julia Pierson took full responsibility for a Sept. 19 breach of the White House. The Washington Examiner and The Washington Post report that the latest incident took place in an elevator during Obama’s Sept. 16 visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The Post says agents questioned the contractor and discovered his criminal history after he refused to stop video recording the president with a phone camera.

Agents didn’t know he was armed until a supervisor fired the contractor on the spot and the man turned over his gun.

The Secret Service did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

JONATHAN J. COOPER, Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — If you purchased caffeine-infused underwear because of promises it will make you thinner, federal regulators say you were hoodwinked — but at least you can get your money back.

The Federal Trade Commission announced this week that two companies have agreed to refund $1.5 million to consumers who purchased “shapewear” that supposedly can reduce cellulite and fat because it’s infused with caffeine, vitamin E and other things.

The FTC says there’s no scientific evidence to back up those claims.

In a settlement, Norm Thompson Outfitters of Oregon, and Wacoal America Inc. of New Jersey agree not to make claims that their products cause weight loss or a reduction of body size.