INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Anthem Inc. is offering two years of free credit monitoring and identity-theft repair as the nation’s second-largest health insurer continues to investigate how hackers broke into a database storing information for about 80 million people.

The Indianapolis company didn’t detail those services in a brief statement on a website it established after announcing the breach last week. The website, www.anthemfacts.com, contains a letter of apology from company CEO Joseph Swedish.

The Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer has said hackers evaded several security layers to reach the database sometime after Dec. 10 and Jan. 27, when a computer system administrator discovered outsiders were using his credentials to log into the system.

The nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center says that attack was easily the largest it has recorded against a health care company.

CONNIE CASS, Associated Press
EMILY SWANSON, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Guys, if you want to get the girl, try bringing flowers — to her mother.

In a new poll, 6 in 10 young women say when they’re thinking of getting serious with someone, their mother’s approval is “extremely” or “very” important.

In the Associated Press-WE tv national poll, 4 in 10 young women say they would consider breaking up with a guy if mom didn’t like him.

Sons in the survey worried a little less than daughters about what mom thinks of their dates. Still, half of 18-to-29-year-old men say their mother’s approval is extremely or very important when a relationship might get serious.

Dads also have their say. The poll finds their opinions are more important to daters under 30 than what friends or siblings think.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A 55-year-old Missouri woman just missed on a big Powerball prize, but is thrilled with the consolation.

Lottery officials on Friday identified Synetta Wright as the player who matched all five white-balls in the Feb. 7 Powerball drawing, winning $1 million.

Wright says it wasn’t until three days after the drawing that she realized she had won. She was on a treadmill, watching the news, and learned the $1 million ticket was sold at Reem Gas Mart, where she bought her ticket.

She checked the ticket and realized her big win.

The city of St. Louis employee is a mother of three, grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of two. She plans to give money to her church and take care of her family.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – Two Springfield men are charged under Missouri’s hate crimes law after they allegedly threatened a black woman and her children at the family’s home.

Springfield police say the men, 23-year-old Aaron Williams and 35-year-old Austin Pierce, have been charged with attempted burglary and property damage motivated by discrimination.

The children’s mother, Dewan Newsom, told police the men banged on windows at her home last Friday and threatened to kill the family, while using several racial slurs. She says the men broke glass on the family’s front door and left only after her 14-year-old son, who is large for his age, returned home and yelled at them.

The Springfield News-Leader reports both men acknowledged being at the home but denied they tried to break in.

COLUMBIA (AP) – A 30-year-old man has been arrested on accusations he violated a protection order by sending threatening messages to a woman. Tahj Graham was arrested in Texas and was booked into a central Missouri jail Tuesday.

Probable cause statements say Graham contacted the woman last November and said he was going to set her home on fire.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A bill to allow restaurants, sports arenas and other organizations to stock medication for allergic reactions has approval from the Missouri Senate.

Senators on Thursday unanimously voted in favor of the measure, which would allow trained employees at those facilities to use the epinephrine auto-injectors commonly known as EpiPens.

Republican Sen. David Sater of Cassville sponsored the bill and says the measure could save lives.

A parent’s permission would be required for a child 12 years old or younger, unless a parent isn’t present and the child appears to be in danger.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a speech on the U.S. Senate floor today, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) responded to President Barack Obama’s proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and highlighted the fact that the president has repeatedly failed to clearly lay out a strategy on how his administration plans to address ISIS and the continued threat of global terrorism.

 

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A proposal to cut the amount of time someone can be on welfare has first-round approval from the Missouri Senate.

Senators in a voice vote Thursday supported ramping back the lifetime limit on receiving welfare benefits from five years to four.

The bill would affect recipients of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which gives money monthly to low-income families.

The legislation also would eventually cut access to benefits if parents don’t look for work or participate in other work-related activities. Department of Social Services workers would be required to meet with those at risk of falling out of compliance.

Sen. David Sater, R-Cassville, said he wants to push recipients to find work. Democratic opponents say the bill could hurt struggling families.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Missouri man has been convicted of a hate crime in connection to the October 2013 assault of a Marine in downtown Omaha.

The jury found 36-year-old Gregory S. Duncan guilty Thursday of third-degree assault for punching Ryan Lanenegger in the face after he and his friends used derogatory names regarding Lanenegger’s sexual orientation. The Omaha World-Herald reports  that the hate crime conviction is believed to be the first based on sexual orientation in Douglas County.

James Martin Davis, Duncan’s attorney, said Duncan’s friends were responsible for the derogatory slurs.

But deputy Douglas County attorney Jim Masteller said Duncan had no other reason to have punched Lanenegger, who Masteller said was peacefully defending his two gay friends.

Duncan faces up to five years in prison.