WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — U.S. Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack outlined strategies his department is implementing aimed at boosting rural economies.

Vilsack told about 470 people attending the National Farmer Union convention in Wichita Monday that agriculture today is 12 times more productive than in 1950 when he was born. That means fewer people on the farm, and the challenge is keeping people in rural communities.

Part of his department’s rural strategy is using conservation efforts that create markets. Another is developing local and regional food systems where smaller-sized operators can be profitable by selling in farmers markets, to schools and other local markets. Another piece is developing rural manufacturing facilities such as bioprocessing plants that create good paying jobs.

EPA administrator Gina McCarthy also touted biofuels as a major economic engine for rural economies.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A seatbelt citation campaign aimed at teenagers resulted in more than twice as many citations this year than in 2014.

Kansas Highway Patrol troopers and law enforcement officers across the state issued 265 seatbelt citations to teen drivers during an enforcement action between Feb. 23 and March 6. The effort put special emphasis on patrols around Kansas high schools.

The campaign also issued 344 citations to adult drivers, as well as 42 child-restraint citations and 224 other citations such as outstanding warrants, texting violations and speeding.

The patrol said in a news release the same campaign in 2014 resulted in 123 seatbelt citations to drivers ages 14 through 17, while the citations to adults decreased from 493 issued last year.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – A Kansas City-area man implicated when his clothes caught fire during a house blaze he helped set has admitted in court his role in an arson-and-fraud scheme.

John S. Wayne of Kansas City, Missouri, entered the pleas Monday in federal court to counts of arson, conspiracy and fraud.

Authorities say Wayne and five other defendants who’ve pleaded guilty participated in buying, over-insuring and burning five Kansas City homes, bilking roughly $435,000 from insurance companies.

Two days after one of the homes only partly burned in 2011, Wayne and another defendant set it ablaze again, destroying it.

A witness saw Wayne bolting from that house with his sweatpants on fire and shedding those clothes and boots in the street. Genetic evidence from the clothing was linked to Wayne.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Local Missouri governments that built storm shelters or repaired critical facilities after disasters are closer to getting paid back for those projects.

The Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday approved giving $124 million more in federal funds to reimburse local governments for emergency-related projects, such as the 2011 Joplin tornado.

Cities and towns are waiting on that additional state spending power to be paid for about $30 million in already-completed projects.

The proposal also includes $5 million in matching general revenue from the state.

Another $3.5 million is for future emergencies. That will replenish funds exhausted in part by the state’s response to unrest in Ferguson, where there were sometimes violent protests following the fatal police shooting of black 18-year-old Michael Brown.

The measure now goes to the full Senate.

KEN DILANIAN, AP Intelligence Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the federal government, seeking to force a response to its request for documents about drone missile strikes against terror suspects.

The complaint, filed in New York’s southern district, says the Justice and Defense Departments and the CIA have failed to respond to the ACLU’s year-old request for records relating to drone strikes under the Freedom of Information Act. While many details of the strikes are classified, President Barack Obama has acknowledged that the U.S. engages in the practice.

The lawsuit says the government failed to make a reasonable effort to search for records responsive to the request.

The ACLU says Obama in May 2013 promised greater transparency about drone strikes, but has failed to deliver.

The government had no immediate comment.

MANHATTAN–The Kansas Department of Agriculture was notified late Friday afternoon that samples collected from a backyard poultry flock containing both chickens and ducks in Leavenworth County was positive for HPAI H5N2. The flock was depopulated on Saturday morning by USDA officials.

KDA is establishing an incident command post in Leavenworth County, and as a part of the disease control and eradication protocol, a control zone has been established around the premise. KDA employees have begun survey work within the control zone to determine locations of backyard poultry flocks.

Avian Influenza is a contagious, rapidly spreading viral disease affecting birds.

Outbreaks of a strain of avian influenza have occurred in Missouri, Arkansas, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and Idaho and are not considered to be a threat to public health or the food supply.

Avian Influenza exists naturally in many wild birds and can be transmitted by contact with infected animals or ingestion of infected food or water. The Center for Disease Control considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks and commercial poultry, to be low. No human infections with the virus have been detected at this time.

“We are dedicated to providing the necessary assistance and precautions to avoid any possible spreading of the disease,” Dr. Bill Brown Kansas Animal Health Commissioner said in a Monday news release.

Symptoms in poultry include coughing, sneezing, respiratory distress, decreased egg production and sudden death.

If you suspect your flock has contracted the disease, quarantine the affected animals immediately. Infected animals must be humanely destroyed and disposed of properly to prevent the disease from spreading.

Although vaccines are available, they are not commonly used because no vaccine covers all 15 strains of the disease. Prevention is the best way to combat Avian Influenza. Keep wild birds away from your home or farm, and stay informed about the health of neighboring animals.

For more information, check www.agriculture.ks.gov/avianinfluenza.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Missouri’s oldest death row inmate is hoping the U.S. Supreme Court or Governor Nixon spares him from being executed as scheduled Tuesday for the 1996 shooting death of a sheriff’s deputy.

Attorneys for 74-year-old Cecil Clayton argued in last-minute appeals that he has dementia and lingering effects from a 1972 sawmill accident that forced surgeons to remove part of his brain.

Clayton’s attorneys were seeking a competency hearing. They said he’s not mentally fit to be put to death.

Clayton was convicted of gunning down sheriff’s deputy Christopher Castetter in rural southwest Missouri’s Barry County while Castetter was investigating a report of a suspicious vehicle.

The Missouri Supreme Court on Saturday declined to intervene.

A spokesman for Gov. Jay Nixon said only that the Democrat is weighing Clayton’s clemency request.

JIM SALTER, Associated Press
DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Ferguson officials have been inundated with thousands of open-records requests since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a city policeman.

In response, the St. Louis suburb has sought payments of thousands of dollars to fulfill some of them. The city attorney has defended that decision.

It highlights the challenges cities can face when they suddenly become the focus of intense public interest.

The Missouri attorney general’s office received several complaints from media outlets, including The Associated Press, that Ferguson’s fees are excessive.

Ferguson City Attorney Stephanie Karr says she often worked until midnight trying to keep up with requests from media, bloggers, activists and residents. She says no fees were charged in the initial weeks after the Aug. 9 shooting and that the charges are allowed by state law.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill met last Thursday with Dorothy Gardner, the President-elect of the Missouri Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to discuss opportunities to improve the public education system in Missouri.

“Getting parents, teachers, and local communities invested in public education is crucially important to strengthening Missouri’s education system—and the Missouri PTA is doing just that,” said McCaskill, a graduate of Missouri’s public school system. “Dorothy brings some great experience and ideas to her role, and I look forward to working with her to improve how we educate our kids.”

Click HERE for photos of today’s meeting.

The Missouri PTA works to develop a strong relationship between students, educators and families to provide Missouri children with the highest quality education.

McCaskill, who recently met with members of the Missouri School Boards’ Association, is a University of Missouri alum and Missouri’s senior Senator.

DIAMOND (AP) – Southwest Missouri authorities said a man is charged with in the shooting death of his 88-year-old grandfather, who was an immigrant from Thailand.

The Jasper County sheriff said deputies were called to the home of Xai Yang near Diamond early Sunday and found the elderly man dead from a gunshot wound.

His 27-year-old grandson, Lee Yang, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.

KYTV reported the Yang family came to southwest Missouri about 10 years ago from Thailand.

It was not immediately clear if Lee Yang had an attorney.