FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. (AP) — Wet Seal is closing 338 stores, about two-thirds of its locations, resulting in nearly 3,700 full and part-time workers losing their jobs. The company has two stores in Missouri and one in Overland Park.

The retailer said that it decided to proceed with the store closings after looking at its overall financial condition and because it wasn’t able to negotiate meaningful concessions from landlords.

The closings are effective Wednesday.

The Wet Seal Inc. said that it estimates the stores closed represented about 48 percent of net sales for the nine months ended Nov. 1, 2014.

Wet Seal anticipates operating about 173 stores and its online business following the store closings.

The Foothill Ranch, California, company expects about $5.4 million to $6.4 million in charges related to the closings.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers are gathering at the Capitol for the start of their annual session.
The session begins at noon Wednesday with a swearing-in ceremony for lawmakers and the election of legislative leaders.
Republicans outnumber Democrats 117-45, with the most GOP members ever in the chamber. The party has a veto-proof majority in the Senate, as well, with 25 Republicans and nine Democrats.
Topics on this year’s agenda include issues that surfaced after the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white Ferguson police officer Aug. 9. Bills filed so far include measures that would require police to wear body cameras.
Other issues include changes to ethics laws and proposals to revamp a Missouri law allowing students in unaccredited districts to transfer to other nearby schools.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced in a media release Tuesday that two Blue Springs, Mo., men and an Independence, Mo., man were indicted by a federal grand jury today for their roles in a conspiracy that included five armed robberies at restaurants and a motel in Lee’s Summit, Independence and Blue Springs.

Isiah G. Etienne, 19, and Mikah M. Labayen, 19, both of Blue Springs, and William H. Parker, III, 20, of Independence, were charged in a 12-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo.

Today’s indictment alleges that Etienne, Labayen and Parker participated in a conspiracy to obstruct interstate commerce by robbery from Nov. 1 to Dec. 7, 2014. All three defendants are charged with the armed robberies of the Chipotle restaurant at 900 N.E. Columbus St., Lee’s Summit on Nov. 3, 2014; the Chipotle restaurant at 1115 N.E. Coronado Drive, Blue Springs on Nov. 16, 2014; and the Drury Inn, 3830 Blue Ridge Cutoff, Kansas City, Mo., on Dec. 7, 2014. Etienne and Parker are charged with the armed robbery of the Burger King restaurant at 19501 E. 39th St., Independence on Nov. 10, 2014. Labayan is charged with the armed robbery of the same Burger King restaurant on Nov. 30, 2014. The indictment also alleges that Parker asked an employee at a Chick-Fil-A restaurant if he was interested in being the “inside man” in a robbery of that restaurant.

In addition to the conspiracy, Etienne, Labayen and Parker are each charged with three counts of obstructing commerce by robbery and three counts of brandishing a firearm in a crime of violence.

Etienne and Parker are also charged together in an additional count of obstructing commerce by robbery and an additional count of brandishing a firearm in a crime of violence. Labayan is also charged in an additional count of obstructing commerce by robbery and an additional count of brandishing a firearm in a crime of violence. Etienne is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles E. Ambrose, Jr. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Lee’s Summit, Mo., Police Department, the Blue Springs, Mo., Police Department and the FBI.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today reintroduced bipartisan legislation to end automatic pay raises for members of Congress, continuing her efforts to cut spending and bolster accountability in government.

“Most hardworking Missourians don’t get automatic pay raises, and members of Congress shouldn’t either,” said McCaskill, a former Missouri State Auditor. “If members of Congress feel they’re deserving of a raise, they should have to vote on it publicly, not rewarded each year by an outdated law that makes their pay raises automatic.”

Under current law, members of Congress automatically receive yearly cost-of-living pay increases unless members vote to stop the increase. McCaskill has helped stop several individual yearly pay raises since arriving in the Senate. Due in part to her efforts, Congressional members have not received a pay raise since 2009.

McCaskill’s legislation—which she is introducing with Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana—would eliminate the provision in law that provides for an annual automatic pay raise for members of Congress and therefore require Congress to pass legislation in order to raise its pay.

McCaskill had previously introduced legislation that would cut pay for members of Congress if federal employees are furloughed due to the automatic budget cuts known as the sequester. Each year, McCaskill donates a portion of her salary back to the U.S. treasury, or to charity.

WARSAW, Mo. (AP) — A Clay County grand jury has charged a 53-year-old Warsaw woman with first-degree murder in the 2012 fatal shooting of her husband.
Viola Patience Bowman is being held at the Benton County jail and also is facing charges of armed criminal action. Her bond has been set at $1 million.
Police had initially investigated the November 2012 death of 53-year-old Albert Bowman as a possible home invasion. Viola Bowman said she found her husband’s body after returning to get ice cream.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Bowman has an attorney yet. Investigators haven’t commented on a possible motive in the case.
Albert Bowman had been an 11-year employee of Kansas City’s Water Services Department. He and his wife had been married since 1978.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A developer says a giant Solo cup structure built into the company’s former plant in Springfield will be torn down by the end of next week.
Patrick Harrington of Warren Davis Properties tells the Springfield News-Leader  the larger-than-life white cup that also served as an entrance no longer fits with the building anymore since the Solo Cup company left the city in 2011.
The building is currently being used for warehouse space by an Ohio-based company and two Springfield businesses.
Solo Cup bought the plant in February 2004 but then sold it in December 2010 to Davis Properties, which it leased it until 2011.

SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Earth has a few more near-twin planets outside our solar system, tantalizing possibilities in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Astronomers announced Tuesday that depending on definitions, they have confirmed three or four more planets that are about the same size as Earth and are in the not-too-hot, not-too-cold “Goldilocks Zone” for liquid water to form.

These planets are likely to be rocky like Earth, and not gas giants or ice worlds. They get about the same heat from their star as we get from the sun.

That brings the total number of planets that are no bigger than twice Earth’s size and in the habitable temperature zone to eight or nine.

NASA also announced that its planet-hunter telescope confirmed its 1,000th planet outside the solar system, most unlike Earth.

MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — To the surprise of even health officials, it turns out that most deaths from drinking too much involve middle-aged adults — not teens or college kids.

A report Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found six Americans die each day from alcohol poisoning. CDC officials said three-quarters of those deaths are adults ages 35 to 64, and most are men. CDC officials said they thought more would be younger.

The CDC searched death records from 2010 through 2012. Researchers focused on people who died after a single episode of binge drinking. Too much alcohol can shut down areas of the brain that control breathing, heart rate and temperature.

The report found an average of 2,221 alcohol poisoning deaths a year.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Arctic air pushing into the Midwest is expected to cause winterkill damage to wheat in some areas but will mostly spare Kansas.

Agricultural meteorologist Don Keeney of MDA Weather Services said Tuesday a third of the nation’s wheat belt will likely be affected. Some damage is expected Wednesday morning, but the bulk of the winterkill is expected Thursday morning.

Winterkill damage is anticipated as subzero temperatures hit in eastern Nebraska, southwestern Iowa, northern and eastern Missouri, south central Illinois, southern Indiana and southern Ohio. Two counties in northwestern Kansas may be affected.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reports 49 percent of Kansas wheat is now in good to excellent condition, 42 percent is reported as fair and 9 percent is in poor to very poor condition.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced in a media release Monday that two Buffalo, Mo., women have been sentenced in federal court for stealing the identities of 20 victims to obtain unauthorized credit cards in the victims’ names.

Stacy R. Rosa, also known as Stacy R. Webbe, 40, of Buffalo, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to two years in federal prison without parole.

In a separate but related case, Kelly Marie Lockhart, also known as Kelly Marie Wilson, 35, of Buffalo, was sentenced on Nov. 5, 2014, to two years in federal prison without parole.

Both Rosa and Lockhart pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft. They admitted that they aided and abetted one another to obtain unauthorized credit cards by stealing the identity information of approximately 20 victims between April 12, 2012, and Jan. 17, 2014. They used the credit cards to make approximately $32,789 in purchases.

Rosa and Lockhart used stolen personally identifying information (including individuals’ names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and bank account information) to gain access to the identity theft victims’ bank and credit card accounts via telephone and the Internet, and to open new credit card accounts. Rosa and Lockhart obtained unauthorized credit cards issued in the victims’ names, and utilized those cards to purchase merchandise and gift cards and to obtain cash advances.

Their plea agreements each cite a specific example in which they impersonated a North Carolina victim during a telephone call and obtained a secondary credit card in the name of Kelly Wilson (Lockhart’s alias). On April 22, 2013, Lockhart used the unauthorized credit card in Bolivar, Mo., to obtain a $3,600 cash advance. On April 30, 2013, Rosa used the unauthorized credit card to pay $96 for her visit to a hair salon in Buffalo.

These cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Mohlhenrich. They were investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Buffalo, Mo., Police Department and the Bolivar, Mo., Police Department.