PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A Missouri man has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison in an interstate stalking case in which he threatened to “start the worst … bloodbath in America” unless his ex-girlfriend left Maine and returned to him in Missouri.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland says 43-year-old William McBroom-Stees of Springfield, Missouri, was sentenced Tuesday to 46 months in prison and three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to the charge of interstate stalking in September.

Prosecutors say McBroom-Stees made hundreds of threatening telephone calls to his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child as she relocated to Maine. He also sent numerous text messages, many of which were threatening. Local authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police killings of unarmed residents in Missouri, New York and elsewhere have prompted an array of proposed policy changes as legislatures across the nation began their new sessions.

Many of the proposals seek to expand or mandate the use of cameras attached to officers’ uniforms. Others would require more training for law officers, tighter limits on when they can use deadly force and the appointment of special prosecutors when police kill people.

In Missouri alone, lawmakers have filed more than 40 measures stemming from the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white Ferguson policeman.

Elsewhere, some lawmakers are looking to bolster protections for police in response to the sometimes violent protests and the shooting of two New York officers after the chokehold death of a black man.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Attorneys have announced a settlement in a class-action lawsuit against an investment banking firm for its role in a failed attempt to construct an artificial sweetener plant in central Missouri.

U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey said details of the settlement reached Wednesday with investment banking firm Morgan Keegan are confidential.

The suit sought returns of investments from 133 people who bought $39 million in bonds for the plant between July 2010 and September 2011.

The Moberly Industrial Development Authority issued the bonds to pay for construction of a Mamtek artificial sweetener plant, which was expected to bring 600 jobs to Moberly.

Morgan Keegan purchased the bonds as the underwriter and sold them to investors.

The company later defaulted on bond payments and the factory never was built.

By Dave Ranney 

State officials have proposed several changes in the Medicaid waivers that define the state’s approach to helping frail elders and people with disabilities live in community-based settings rather than in nursing homes.

The proposed changes, now posted on the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services website, were filed with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Dec. 31.

CMS is expected to respond to the proposal within 90 days. Most of the changes are considered minor.

“We’re pleased,” said Barb Conant, a spokesperson for Kansas Advocates for Better Care, an advocacy group for frail elders and nursing home residents.

KDADS “backed away,” she said, from automatically transitioning people on the physical disability waiver to the frail elderly waiver when they turn 65.

“There seemed to be a lot of unanswered questions about the effect that would have on services, so we’re glad to see that they dropped it,” Conant said.

Earlier, Conant and other advocates objected to the change, saying it could lead to pay cuts for some attendant care workers and to fewer services — sleep cycle support, especially — for some of the program’s beneficiaries.

Angela de Rocha, a KDADS spokesperson, said that after weighing advocates’ concerns, department officials decided to instead propose making the transition to the frail elderly waiver optional.

“We’re not making anybody do anything,” she said. “They can, basically, choose.”

The initial proposal, she said, was driven by the department’s desire to remove administrative hurdles that may limit beneficiaries’ access to some services.

“Where we’re going with this is, eventually, we want the managed care companies to be able to provide services across waivers, so if you need something and you’re not in the waiver that provides that service, the MCOs will be able to add it to your care plan,” de Rocha said. “We’re not there yet, but that is where we would like to be.”

Since 2013, the state’s Medicaid waivers have been administered by three for-profit managed care organizations as part of KanCare. The waivers define which home and community-based services are available for frail elders, people with disabilities and people with traumatic brain injuries.

Tom Laing is executive director at Interhab, a Topeka-based association that represents many of the programs that provide services for people with developmental disabilities. He said his members were pleased that KDADS softened language that could have caused some consumers to lose access to the case managers they use to navigate the system.

“We are pretty cautiously optimistic about the effort the state is making,” Laing said. “They’ve indicated that they are requesting some additional technical advice from CMS. We’ve expressed our desire to be a part of that discussion, and we think they are interested in receiving that feedback from us.”

KDADS, Laing said, did a “good job” in gathering and responding to providers’ concerns before filing its final proposal.

Advocates for people who’ve suffered traumatic brain injuries said they were disappointed in the department’s decision to leave in language that would tie a person’s eligibility for services to whether they “show the capacity to make progress in their rehabilitation and independent living skills.”

People on the traumatic brain injury (TBI) waiver, according to the KDADS proposal, would have their conditions reassessed every six months. Currently, they are subject to annual reassessments.

The proposed change represents a shift toward short-term care, according to David Rundle of Wichita, a longtime advocate for people with disabilities.

“TBI is a lifelong disability,” he said. “As in all such conditions, a person with a traumatic brain injury reaches a point where no further progress can be made. Then, you can only maintain it.”

Rundle lives in a Wichita apartment complex designed for people with disabilities that is affiliated with the Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation.

Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

CANDICE CHOI, AP Food Industry Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Chipotle says it stopped serving pork at about a third of its restaurants after suspending a supplier that violated its standards.

Chris Arnold, a spokesman for the Mexican food chain, told The Associated Press it’s the first time the company stopped serving a topping for its burritos and bowls. He said Chipotle learned of the violation by the supplier on Friday through a routine audit, and did not have a timeline for when carnitas would return to affected stores.

In New York City on Tuesday, a sign on the door of a Chipotle location stated, “SORRY, NO CARNITAS.”

Arnold declined to specify the nature of the supplier’s violation. But with pork, he said the most notable demand Chipotle makes of its suppliers is that pigs are raised in humane conditions.

STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — An IRS watchdog says the agency is cutting taxpayer services just as President Barack Obama’s health law will make filing a federal tax return more complicated for millions of families.

The IRS says only half of the 100 million taxpayers expected to call the agency this year will be able to reach a person. Callers who get through may find themselves on hold for 30 minutes or more.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said taxpayers will suffer. Olson runs an independent office within the IRS.

In her annual report to Congress, Olson said some taxpayers might make costly mistakes because they can’t get help, while others will simply give up and not file a return.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen says budget cuts are forcing the agency to reduce taxpayer services.

MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is moving toward softening a law that brought strict rules for banks and Wall Street firms in response to the 2008 financial crisis.

Under a veto threat from the White House, the bill pushed by the newly bulked-up Republican majority came under discussion in the House on Tuesday for the second time in less than a week. This time it’s likely to pass, with a vote expected Wednesday that would advance a Republican priority.

The bill would alter sections of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul. Most notably, it would give U.S. banks an extra two years — until 2019 — to ensure that their holdings of certain complex and risky securities don’t put them out of compliance with a new banking rule.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man sentenced to life in prison without parole for a murder in Jefferson City will be resentenced.
A Missouri Appeals Court panel on Tuesday ordered Cole County to resentence William Branch for the 1999 killing of 34-year-old Michael Alfaro during a robbery at a Jefferson City convenience store.
Branch was 17 at the time of the killing. The appeals court said he must be resentenced because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders are unconstitutional.
The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports the office of Attorney General Chris Koster’s office is reviewing Tuesday’s ruling.
Branch pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in 2000. A co-defendant, Terry Campbell, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree robbery.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Pornographic magazine publisher Larry Flynt is persevering in his legal fight to publicize details about Missouri’s execution methods. This follows the November 2013 execution of the white supremacist gunman who left him paralyzed.

A federal district court judge denied Flynt’s attempt to intervene in a 2013 lawsuit over Missouri’s largely secret execution protocol. The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, which represents the Hustler publisher, wants the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the lower court ruling.

Oral arguments are scheduled for Wednesday.

Joseph Paul Franklin, who targeted blacks and Jews in a three-year cross-country killing spree, shot Flynt in 1978 but was never charged in that attack.

A separate legal challenge to Missouri’s execution protocol filed on behalf of Franklin and other death-row inmates endures.