JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration wants to put a stop to excessive payday or car title loans for military service members.

The Defense Department is trying to close legal loopholes that have put hundreds of thousands of service members at risk of excessive fees.

New rules would toughen the Military Lending Act’s limits on interest rates for certain types of credit for service men and women and their dependents.

Under current law, lenders cannot charge members of the military more than 36 percent interest. But loans covered by the law are so narrowly defined that lenders can make simple adjustments to get around its provisions.

The proposed rules would broaden the definition of consumer credit so that more loans would fall under the 2006 law.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court has set an execution date for a man convicted of killing a gas station attendant in Independence.
The court on Monday set 56-year-old Leon Taylor’s execution for Nov. 19 at the state prison in Bonne Terre.

Taylor was sentenced to death for the April 1994 shooting death of 53-year-old Robert Newton in Independence. Authorities say he also tried to kill the victim’s 8-year-old stepdaughter but the gun misfired.

Taylor had been scheduled for execution in September but the court withdrew that execution warrant after his lawyers argued for more time to work on his case.

Eight inmates have been executed in Missouri this year. Another inmate, Mark Christeson, is scheduled to be put to death Oct. 29.

DETROIT (AP) — U.S. safety regulators are looking into a consumer’s petition alleging that older Toyota Corollas can accelerate unexpectedly at low speeds and cause crashes.

The inquiry covers about 1.69 million of the compact cars from the 2006 to 2010 model years. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will decide whether to open a formal investigation.

An unidentified consumer said in a letter to the agency that a Corolla surged at low speeds several times, and the brakes failed to stop the car. The consumer said the problem caused one collision with a parked vehicle on June 8.

Investigators said they found 141 consumer complaints about the problem. No other crashes or injuries were reported.

The consumer filed the petition on Sept. 11.

Messages were left seeking comment from Toyota.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – Another Muslim inmate is suing the Greene County jail, alleging that jailers violated his civil rights by denying him a Quran and a prayer rug and refusing to let him attend Friday prayer services.

The Springfield News-Leader reported Sunday that Richard Ray McLendon Jr. filed a handwritten lawsuit against the jail and the program coordinator of religious matters.

Six other Muslim inmates sued Sheriff Jim Arnott and deputies in 2013, claiming religious discrimination.

McLendon is waiting to be sent to the federal prison in Marion, Illinois, on a two-year sentence for violating supervised release in a sex offender case.

Arnott has said Qurans are available in the jail. He dec

GRANDVIEW (AP) – Fire officials say an adult and an infant died in a fire in a Kansas City suburb.

The fire was reported early Monday at a home in Grandview.

Grandview Fire Chief Chuck Thacker says an adult’s body was found in the home’s basement. The infant was taken to a hospital and later died.

KSHB-TV reports another person was taken to the hospital with critical injuries.

Thacker said two children escaped through a bedroom window and ran to a neighbor’s home to alert emergency workers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden announced almost a half-billion dollars of grants Monday to community colleges working with employers on job training.

Linking training to industry demand is key to the Obama administration’s strategy for improving wages and reducing unemployment.

Massasoit Community College in Massachusetts and Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley Technical College received the largest grants of about $20 million each.

A Maryland program will receive $15 million to partner with companies like Raytheon and IBM to train workers with little education for jobs in cybersecurity or information technology. Schools in Kentucky will get $10 million to expand online learning for degrees in computer and medical fields.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is awarding nearly a half-billion dollars to community colleges that are partnering with employers on job training.

Massasoit Community College in Massachusetts and Wisconsin’s Chippewa Valley Technical College are the largest recipients and will each get about $20 million.

A Maryland program will receive $15 million to partner with companies like Raytheon and IBM to train workers with little education for jobs in cybersecurity or information technology. Community and technical colleges in Kentucky will get $10 million to expand online learning for degrees in computer and medical fields.

Vice President Joe Biden and the secretaries of Education and Labor will announce the grant winners Monday at the White House. Linking job training to industry demand is key to the administration’s strategy to improve wages and reduce unemployment.

 

COLUMBIA (AP) – Columbia police say they’ve arrested two 19-year-old men in connection to a shooting of a woman at a student apartment complex near the University of Missouri.

Police said Sunday the men were each arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon. They are being held at the Boone County Jail on $25,000 bond. It’s unclear if any of the people involved are students.

Officers were dispatched to the Aspen Heights apartments Saturday after reports of gunshots. They say a woman was shot but that her injuries weren’t life-threatening.

Witnesses tell police one man was firing a gun into the air and the second started shooting into a crowd after the first gunshots.

Wabaunsee County- A woman was injured in an accident just before 1:30 a.m. on Monday in Wabaunsee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Honda CRV driven by Brandy Nicole Conyers, 26, Lafayette, CA., was westbound on Interstate 70 just east of Wamego.

The  driver fell asleep. The vehicle drifted into the grass median, the driver over corrected back onto highway, and then re-entered the median and the vehicle over turned.

Conyers was transported to Geary Community Hospital.

The KHP reported she was properly restrained at the time of the accident.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – State scientists say Missouri’s wild turkey population appears to be on the rebound.

The Department of Conservation says it has observed a higher ratio of young turkeys to hens than compared to the average over the past five or 10 years. Some of the strongest numbers have been reported in northern Missouri, which had been most affected by a downturn in turkey production that began in the early 2000s.

The department says Missouri has now had strong turkey reproduction in three of the past four years. That means hunters should start seeing more turkeys in the woods.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A group of business and energy leaders will start work next week to help improve Missouri’s energy policies.

Gov. Jay Nixon on Friday announced the names of more than 50 business, labor, education and energy leaders who will start work to hash out a plan for state energy use Oct. 1 at Washington University in St. Louis.

The committee created by Nixon in June is responsible for recommending ways the state can be energy efficient, promote economic development in the energy sector and ensure an abundant energy supply.

Appointees include a Sierra Club member, energy company representatives, university employees and representatives from businesses such as Ford Motor Co.

Members of the public can attend any of the eight meetings in October and submit suggestions online at energy.mo.gov.