JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt is touting passage of legislation that authorizes the appointment of a special ambassador to the Middle East focused on religious freedom.

The Missouri Republican says his legislation received unanimous approval from the U.S. House on Friday. It passed the Senate earlier this month and now goes to President Barack Obama.

Blunt has previously expressed concerns about the way Christians have been attacked, jailed and mistreated.

The bill authorizes up to $1 million annually for a special envoy’s office to promote freedoms for religious minorities in what the bill describes as the Near East and South Central Asia. The envoy would have the rank of ambassador.

In addition to promoting religious freedom, the envoy would recommend responses by the U.S. when religious freedoms are violated.

NEW YORK (AP) — When it comes to preventing the spread of germs, maybe the president is on to something with his fondness for fist bumps.

A new study found that a quick fist bump spreads only one-twentieth the amount of bacteria that a handshake does. That’s even better than a high-five, which passes along less than half the amount as a handshake.

What makes the fist bump more sanitary? The researchers say mostly it’s the smaller amount of surface area in contact between the two hands.

Researchers at Aberystwyth University in Wales did the study. It was published online Monday in the American Journal of Infection Control.

The fist bump has been popularized in recent years by athletes and by President Barack Obama.

 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — One of four remaining clinics in Kansas that provide abortions has closed because its doctor and manager have retired.

The Aid For Women clinic in Kansas City, Kansas, closed Saturday and is referring patients to three other clinics in Kansas, two in suburban Kansas City and one in Wichita.

Clinic manager Jeff Pederson says former patients need to fight for reproductive rights instead of relying on clinic works to wage that battle.

Wichita-based anti-abortion group Operation Rescue filed a complaint with the state Board of Healing Arts in 2012 alleging Aid for Women failed to report child sexual abuse. A lawyer for the clinic denied those claims.

Operation Rescue on Sunday hailed the clinic’s closing and said it was told recently that the BOHA case against the clinic was ongoing.

 

MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — House and Senate negotiators have finally agreed on a compromise plan to fix a veterans’ health program scandalized by long patient wait times and falsified records.

The chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees are holding a news conference Monday to unveil a plan expected to authorize billions in emergency spending to lease 27 new clinics, hire more doctors and nurses and make it easier for veterans who can’t get prompt appointments with VA doctors to obtain outside care.

An agreement reached Sunday by Republican Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont comes nearly seven weeks after the House and Senate approved separate bills on veterans health care.

The deal still must be approved by the full House and Senate.

NEW YORK (AP) — Dollar Tree is buying rival discount store Family Dollar in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $8.5 billion.

Stockholders of Family Dollar Stores will receive $59.60 in cash and the equivalent of $14.90 in shares of Dollar Tree for each share they own. The companies put the value of the transaction at $74.50 per share.

The boards of both companies have unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close by early next year.

Shares of Family Dollar Stores Inc., based in Charlotte, North Carolina, spiked 20 percent before the opening bell Monday. Shares of Dollar Tree Inc., based in Chesapeake, Virginia, are up almost 4 percent.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee’s chairman says he’ll push again next year for changes aimed at expediting appeals in capital punishment cases.

Independence Republican Jeff King says the cases of capital murder defendants Jonathan and Reginald Carr show that the state’s system for handling death penalty cases is broken.

The senator pushed unsuccessfully earlier this year for legislation to shorten the appeals process.

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday overturned the Carrs’ death sentences for a crime spree that ended with the shooting of four people in December 2000 in a Wichita field.

King noted that the Carrs were convicted and sentenced to die in 2002 and said it shouldn’t have taken so long for the high court to rule. He also disagreed with Friday’s ruling.

 

RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — People who have health insurance on their jobs usually don’t think twice about next year’s renewal.

But if you are in one of the new plans under President Barack Obama’s health law, that assumption could lead to costly surprises.

Industry officials, advocates and other experts say insurance exchange customers who opt for convenience by automatically renewing their coverage for 2015 are likely to receive dated and inaccurate financial aid amounts from the government.

If those amounts are too low, consumers could get sticker shock over their new premiums. Too high, and they’ll owe the tax man later.

To avoid potential problems, consumers should update their personal information and plan choices with HealthCare.gov after open enrollment starts Nov. 15.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas businessman running for the U.S. Senate as an independent says he has enough signatures from registered voters to get on the general election ballot in November.

Greg Orman of Olathe planned to have a news conference Monday morning on the south steps of the Statehouse before presenting petitions with his signatures to the secretary of state’s office.

Kansas law requires an independent candidate for statewide office to gather 5,000 signatures. Orman is submitting his a week before the deadline.

Orman is co-founder of Denali Partners, a business capital and management services firm. In 2010, he helped create the Common Sense Coalition, a nonprofit group that describes itself as an advocate for “the sensible center.”

He’s seeking the seat held by Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts.