JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri lawmaker is proposing to make it harder to amend the state constitution.
Republican Rep. Elijah Haahr, of Springfield, wants to require a 60 percent vote — instead of a simple majority — to approve constitutional amendments at statewide elections.

Haahr has filed his proposal for lawmakers to consider during the 2015 session. If approved by the General Assembly, it would be referred to the 2016 ballot.
Haahr says he’s proposing the higher standard because the Missouri Constitution is being amended with increasing frequency and has grown to well over 100 pages long.

Voters approved five constitutional amendments this year. But two of those amendments — creating a right to farm and limiting the governor’s budget-cutting powers — didn’t meet Haahr’s proposed 60 percent threshold.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A Missouri education panel tasked with reviewing the state’s learning standards for schoolchildren is bucking House Speaker Tim Jones and keeping an appointee he removed.

Members voted 7-5 Tuesday to keep Columbia schools language arts coordinator Nick Kremer. Jones earlier that day sent him a letter saying he doesn’t have the required 10 years’ experience.

The work groups are reviewing the national Common Core education standards currently in place. Some lawmakers pushed for the review hoping it would mean replacing the Common Core.

Those standards have been a magnet for critics who say they take away state control over education.

Chair Keri Skeeters calls Kremer’s removal a disruption to the group’s work to review English standards. The groups have been meeting since September.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas board is considering whether to continue barring a physician from practicing medicine after scrutinizing her referrals of young patients for late-term abortions and finding that she kept inadequate records.

Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus of Nortonville will be back before the State Board of Healing Arts next week.

She successfully challenged a 2012 board ruling that she conducted substandard mental health exams in 2003 for 11 patients aged 10 to 18. Her opinions about patients’ mental problems allowed the late Dr. George Tiller’s clinic in Wichita to terminate their pregnancies.

A judge earlier this year overturned the board’s revocation of Neuhaus’ license but agreed that she kept inadequate records. The judge sent her case back to the board.

The board has a hearing set for 10 a.m. Dec. 11.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City couple accused of locking a malnourished 8-year-old girl in a bedroom has been acquitted of assault and child endangerment.

The Kansas City Star  reports that Jackson County Judge Robert Schieber determined Tuesday that prosecutors hadn’t proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Jeffrey and Michele Kraft had intended to injure the girl. He said the couple did what they could.

The defense said the girl was skinny, not malnourished, and speculated the case was handled aggressively because it came on the heels of the discovery of a 32-pound 10-year-old.

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

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Police are investigating Michael Brown’s stepfather for angry comments made to a Ferguson crowd after a grand jury decided not to indict the police officer who fatally shot his stepson.

St. Louis County Police spokesman Brian Schellman said Tuesday that police want to talk to Louis Head about his comments as part of a broader investigation into arson, vandalism and looting that followed the Nov. 24 grand jury announcement. Twelve commercial buildings were destroyed by fire.

Widely-circulated video showed Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, on top of a car and breaking down as the announcement blares on a stereo. Head, her husband, comforts her then repeatedly yells angry comments, including “Burn this bitch down!”

Family attorney Benjamin Crump has called the reaction “raw emotion,” but “completely inappropriate.”

KANSAS CITY- A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 11 a.m. on Tuesday in Wyandotte County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 International truck driven by Richard W. Bowers, 60, Marion, was southbound on Interstate 635 at Interstate 70.

The truck made a lane change and made contact with a southbound 2001 Cadillac Deville. The collision forced the Cadillac into the wall.

The Cadillac driver Shannon M. Kirtdoll, 25, Topeka, was transported to KU Medical Center.

Bowers and a passenger in the Cadillac were not injured.
The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

CHRISTINE ARMARIO, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Classrooms across the nation have been discussing the Ferguson police shooting — and some uncomfortable topics — in the wake of the grand jury’s decision not to indict the officer who killed Michael Brown.

Tom Rademacher knew his high school students would have the case on their mind after last week’s announcement. So the Minneapolis teacher put aside his lesson plans and asked a question: How did they feel?

Some teens were sad, others angry. One said he logged off Twitter and Facebook to avoid dealing with upset friends.

Teachers are leading discussions about race, police use of force and poverty, and asking students to share their experiences. Others are weaving in lessons from history.

At some schools, teachers, parents or students are reluctant to discuss the sensitive case.

SALINA- Saline County authorities are investigating a reported theft of guns from a rest area on Interstate 70.

The Saline County Sheriff’s Department said a motorist from Denver was stopped at the rest area at milepost 265 near Solomon on Sunday evening.

After arriving in Denver on Monday, Colton Stuckmeyer discovered the guns and luggage that were in his 2007 Audi were gone.

Stuckmeyer believes the theft occurred while he used the restroom and walked his dogs at the rest area.

The items were in the vehicle’s trunk. Stuckmeyer told authorities he was not sure the car was locked.

Among the guns taken were three .45 caliber pistols, two .22 caliber rifles, and a 12-gauge shotgun. Other items taken included a small bag with shoes and other items, a backpack with a Mac Book Pro computer, and a riflescope.

Loss is estimated at $8,100