WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) today applauded committee passage of the “Travel Promotion, Enhancement, and Modernization Act,” a bipartisan bill they introduced to reauthorize Brand USA and help boost international tourism to the United States.

“Travel and tourism are important to economic growth and private sector job creation in Missouri and nationwide,” said Blunt. “I’m pleased my colleagues on the Senate Commerce Committee support this common-sense, bipartisan bill to enhance and modernize Brand USA so we can continue to promote international travel to the U.S. and bring revenue and jobs to communities across the nation – without costing taxpayers a dime.”

“International tourism to the United States helps drive billions in sales every year, powering economic growth in local communities in Minnesota and across the country,” said Klobuchar. “Brand USA is a proven partnership that helps the U.S. compete globally by boosting tourism to the United States, and I’ll keep pressing to extend this program until we get it done.”

The Senators’ legislation – which passed the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday – would reauthorize Brand USA, a public-private partnership that enhances tourism across the country by promoting international travel to the United States. In 2013, Brand USA generated 1.1 million additional international visitors to the U.S. who spent an estimated $3.4 billion, strengthening local businesses and stimulating economic growth. Blunt and Klobuchar’s bill has 30 additional co-sponsors in the Senate, and according to the Congressional Budget Office would reduce the deficit by $231 million over 10 years.

Blunt and Klobuchar introduced the bipartisan Travel Promotion, Enhancement, and Modernization Act to reauthorize Brand USA through 2020. Brand USA is funded by international visitors and private contributions – not U.S. taxpayers. Half of its budget comes from the private sector through cash and in-kind contributions. The rest of the budget – up to a maximum of $100 million – is funded by a nominal fee assessed on visa-free international visitors screened by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). Brand USA can only collect up to $100 million from ESTA fees paid by foreign travelers visiting the U.S., and amounts collected in excess of the cap are returned to the U.S. Treasury to help reduce the deficit.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas says a $16 million gift will help build a hall in the university’s planned Earth, Energy and Environment Center.

The university announced the gift Thursday from the family of Donald Slawson, a Wichita resident who died July 7. He graduated from the university in 1955 and founded Slawson Exploration, becoming a leader in the oil and gas exploration industry.

The university said in a news release the gift will fund Slawson Hall, which will provide space for collaboration among researchers in several earth science and energy fields. Part of Slawson Hall will be used to provide real-world applications of discoveries made at the university.

Slawson was twice appointed to the National Petroleum Council, and also served two terms on the Kansas Board of Regents.

NEW YORK (AP) — The government is reporting an increase in teen U.S. girls getting a controversial cervical cancer vaccine — but it’s not much of a bump.

Last year’s rise follows a couple of years when the HPV vaccination rate was flat.

For girls ages 13 to 17, the rate is now up to about 38 percent from 33 percent.

The CDC on Thursday reported the latest rates for the vaccine that protects against human papillomavirus, or HPV. The sexually transmitted bug can cause cervical cancer, genital warts and other illnesses.

The vaccine has been available since 2006.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Nearly 60,000 Kansans will share more than $3.6 million in insurance reimbursements under a provision of the Affordable Care Act.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in a statement Wednesday that the provision requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on patient care and quality improvement. If more than 20 percent of that money goes to profits and administration, the companies have to reimburse their customers.

The department says the 59,966 Kansans who bought insurance on the individual or small or large group markets in 2013 will receive the reimbursements.

They money will be returned through a mailed check; a reimbursement to the electronic card used to pay the premium; lower future premiums, or by employers reinvesting the money in health coverage.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A legislative committee says internal legislator requests for audits of various state interests are being delayed because of a lack of auditors.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 25 legislator requests for internal audits have been delayed because the auditors don’t have the resources to get to them.

One factor in the slowdown is a 2013 law that required the Division of Legislative Post Audit to audit three school districts per year for the next three years.

The auditing division has less than 25 employees, although it has been authorized to add three more this year.

The requested audits that are awaiting action include the proposed sale of state buildings, the cost effectiveness of the death penalty in Kansas and the Kansas Board of Cosmetology.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Lottery says a decline in the money it provided to education is due partly to the types of Lottery games people chose to play.

The amount of proceeds transferred to education declined by $21.5 million during the state’s recently concluded budget year, despite record high sales by the Lottery.

Gov. Jay Nixon has ordered a review of the Lottery’s operations to determine whether it can provide a stable funding source to education.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – A southwest Missouri couple is charged with selling $1 million of synthetic marijuana known as K2.

The U.S. Attorney says in a news release that 79-year-old Doy Case and his 67-year-old wife, Tressie Case, of Rogersville, were charged Tuesday in a nine-count indictment.

Prosecutors allege the Cases received more than 100,000 grams of synthetic marijuana through their business, called Magic Dragon, between September 2010 and November 2012. They allegedly sold the drug for $10 per gram.

Court documents say the Cases advertised the drugs in high school yearbooks and with student organizations, saying K2 were herbal aromas and incense.

The release says federal agents gave the Cases a chance to voluntarily quit the practice in 2012 but they did not.

Online records don’t indicate if the Cases have an attorney.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – The Kansas City and Hickman Mills school districts will offer free lunches to every student, beginning in August.

A new federal provision allows qualifying districts with high percentages of students on food assistance to feed all their students. The theory is that the districts will recover the loss in food costs with savings from the expensive paperwork and bureaucracy needed to manage lunch accounts.

The Kansas City Star reports 90 percent of the students in the Kansas City Public Schools qualify for free or reduced-price meals, and 86 percent in Hickman Mills.

Other districts in the area are considering using the Community Eligibility Provision. But districts with more students who pay for their lunches say the provision is not financially feasible for them.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — After a trial that lasted almost a month, a federal grand jury has convicted two Lawrence men and a California man in a conspiracy that brought $17 million in drugs to Kansas.

Los Rovell Dahda and Roosevelt Rico Dahda, 32-year-old twins from Lawrence, and Justin Cherif Pickel, of San Lorenzo, California, were found guilty Wednesday of conspiracy, as well as several other drug charges.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the government is seeking a $16.9 million judgment against the three men.

The Dahdas and Pickel were among 43 people arrested in Kansas and California and charged in 2012 in a seven-year conspiracy that funneled more than 8,000 pounds of marijuana to Lawrence and the Kansas City area.