ST. LOUIS (AP) – Missouri’s U.S. senators are asking Gov. Jay Nixon to seek federal help for businesses damaged during violent protests over the fatal shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old.

In a letter to Nixon Friday, U.S. Sens. Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt say businesses in Ferguson have “suffered significant physical damage” during days of civil unrest following the death of Michael Brown. They say many of those businesses are struggling to recover.

The senators want Nixon to consider seeking a Small Business Administration disaster declaration. The declaration would give affected businesses access to low-interest loans.

To receive the declaration, the state must certify that a certain number of businesses have suffered economic loss.

A QuikTrip store was burned during protests over Brown’s killing by a white police officer. Other businesses also were damaged.

JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration will offer a new accommodation to religious nonprofits that object to covering birth control for their employees. The measure allows those groups to notify the government, rather than their insurance company, that birth control violates their religious beliefs.

The government is also extending an existing accommodation to some for-profit corporations like Hobby Lobby that’s currently available only to nonprofits. That accommodation requires groups to sign a form transferring responsibility for paying for birth control to their insurers or third-party administrators.

The dual decisions embrace suggestions included in recent Supreme Court rulings. But they’re unlikely to go far enough to satisfy religious groups. That’s because they would still make the groups complicit in a system that provides birth control through their organizations’ health plans.

UPDATE 12:45 p.m. OZARK (AP) – A fire at a utility company’s substation left thousands of people without power in southwest Missouri.

The Empire Electric substation in Christian County was destroyed by fire Thursday evening, leaving 4,500 people in the Ozark and Sparta area without power.

Utility employees worked throughout the night to replace the transformer and power was restored Friday morning.

Utility spokeswoman Julie Maus said the transformer was working within normal capacity when the fire started. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Ozark First Baptist Church opened its doors Thursday night for those who needed a place to stay during the outage.

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OZARK (AP) – A fire at a utility company’s substation left thousands of people without power in southwest Missouri.

The Empire Electric substation in Christian County was destroyed by fire Thursday evening, leaving 4,500 people in the Ozark and Sparta area without power.

Utility employees worked throughout the night to replace the transformer but thousands of customers were still without power early Friday.

Utility spokeswoman Julie Maus said the transformer was working within normal capacity when the fire started. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Ozark First Baptist Church opened its doors Thursday night for those who needed a place to stay during the outage.

PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says fellow conservatives should “stop the fight” over Common Core education standards and instead consider the benefits the benchmarks offer students in struggling schools.

Huckabee’s comments Friday put him at odds with a significant bloc of Republicans, including many of his potential rivals for the 2016 presidential nomination.

Huckabee acknowledges the standards have become politically “toxic.” But he says parents from both parties should stop fighting the standards, which states voluntarily adopted and describe what reading and language skills students should learn in each grade.

Tea party-styled conservatives brand the standards as one-size-fits-all prescriptions that have the backing of President Barack Obama. Teacher unions oppose having their members graded on how well students learn the more rigorous skills.

 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Democratic nominee in Kansas’ 1st Congressional District has crossed party lines to endorse independent candidate Greg Orman for U.S. Senate.

Former Manhattan Mayor Jim Sherow is challenging Republican Congressmen Tim Huelskamp in the sprawling U.S. House district of western and central Kansas congressional district.

Sherow told The Associated Press on Thursday he believes Orman has the best chance to defeat Republican Sen. Pat Roberts in November. Roberts also faces Democratic nominee Chad Taylor, but Sherow says many Democrats are supporting Orman because of his promise of bipartisanship.

Sherow notes that 100 current and former Republican elected officials have endorsed Democrat Paul Davis for governor against GOP incumbent Sam Brownback. Sherow said strict party lines are breaking down in Kansas and a core middle ground is emerging.

DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press

CHILMARK, Mass. (AP) — Criticized whenever he goes on vacation, President Barack Obama is on par with most Americans, who average four leisure trips a year, travel industry data shows.

NEW YORK (AP) — About 2.2 million bean bag chairs are being recalled after two children opened them, crawled inside and suffocated to death.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says the zippers on the chairs, which are made by Ace Bayou Corp., can open.

A 13-year-old boy from McKinney, Texas, and a 3-year-old girl from Lexington, Kentucky, were found dead inside the chairs after suffocating from the lack of air and inhaling the chair’s foam beads.

The chairs were sold at Bon-Ton, Meijer, Pamida, School Specialty, Wayfair and Walmart stores and online at Amazon.com, Meijer.com and Walmart.com. They cost between $30 and $100 and were sold before July 2013.

Ace Bayou is offering customers a free repair kit on its website that will stop the zippers from opening.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A proposal to increase permit and emission fees charged to Missouri companies to regulate air pollution has fallen apart, forcing state officials to lower proposed increases and placing a department that monitors air pollution in financial danger.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources Air Pollution Control Program enforces the federal Clean Air Act in the state. It faces insolvency by late 2016 unless fees paid by polluters increase.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports a proposed fee schedule that received support earlier this year would have raised enough to keep the agency operating.

Kyra Moore, director of the air pollution control program, said last week some companies objected to the proposed fee increases, and lower increases were likely. She did not say which companies raised the late objections.

WASHINGTON – Following the fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Mo. police officer, and subsequent clashes between local police and protestors, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today announced that she will lead a Senate hearing in September to examine the militarization of local police departments.

Specifically, McCaskill—Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight— will use the hearing to examine federal programs that enable local police departments to acquire military equipment, such as the Defense Department’s 1033 program for surplus property and grants made through the Department of Homeland Security. She plans to gather stakeholders in order to hear several perspectives, including those of local law enforcement.

Details of McCaskill’s hearing will be available in the coming days.

Last week, amid confrontations between police and protestors, McCaskill called for local authorities in Ferguson to “de-militarize” the situation. She has since spoken directly to President Obama, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and Molly Moran, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice, on the status of the federal civil rights investigation.

McCaskill has also been in constant contact with dozens of local officials, law enforcement, and religious leaders, to deescalate the situation on the ground in Ferguson.