ULIET LINDERMAN, Associated Press
TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press

BALTIMORE (AP) — An Arkansas megachurch pastor is the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today announced her support for a sweeping bill to allow individuals to refinance their student loan debt at lower interest rates, helping address the record high levels of crippling loan debt and delinquencies increasingly affecting millions of students and their families.

Student loan debt today totals $1.2 trillion, $864 billion of which is backed by the federal government. More than 70 percent of students who graduated from college in 2012 had student loan debt. The average debt for a 2012 graduate from a Missouri university was $23,030.

The U.S. Department of Education estimates this new legislation would benefit 523,000 Missouri students.

“For thousands of Missouri’s young people, staggering student loan debt is strangling the economic opportunities that are supposed to come with a college degree-every dollar paid in interest on that debt, is a dollar not invested in a small business or a new home,” McCaskill said. “I personally benefited from student loans when I was in school, and I’ll continue fighting to make sure that every student who works hard gets a fair shot at an affordable college education.”

The Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act would allow eligible student loan borrowers to refinance their high-interest federal loans to the low rates offered to new federal student loan borrowers. The bill would also allow eligible students with loans from the private market to refinance their high-interest private student loans by converting the private loans to government loans. Those who refinance their private loans would gain access to the protections and benefits of the federal student loan programs.

The legislation is fully paid for.

McCaskill previously fought for an expansion of federal student loans, and recently led the charge to prevent a drastic increase in student loan interest rates. McCaskill also helped pass the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which made college more affordable for Missouri families by boosting Pell Grants, cutting interest rates on college loans, and providing loan forgiveness for students who spend ten years in public service, as well as opening up TEACH Grants for undergraduates who commit to teaching in high-need school districts.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 31-year-old Kansas City man is charged with second-degree murder after an accident that occurred as he was fleeing police.

Thirty-one-year-old Anthony Harris was also charged Monday with involuntary manslaughter, resisting a lawful stop and endangering the welfare of a child.

The vehicle eventually crashed, throwing 31-year-old Latasha Green and her 1-year-old son from the vehicle. Green died but her son suffered only minor injuries.

Prosecutors said initial tests showed Harris was intoxicated. He was charged as a persistent offender because of two prior felony convictions.

It was not immediately clear if Harris has an attorney.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge has turned aside an administration effort to quash subpoenas to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, whose testimony is being sought in a lawsuit filed against the late blogger Andrew Breitbart.

Former Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod sued Breitbart and his colleague Larry O’Connor after Breitbart posted an edited video of Sherrod, who is black, supposedly making racist remarks. Sherrod’s words were taken out of context.

Sherrod and O’Connor subpoenaed Vilsack, who has said he requested Sherrod’s resignation. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said Vilsack is the only one who can explain the relationship, if any, between a decision to request Sherrod’s resignation and the blog post. In seeking to quash the subpoenas, the Obama administration said the information being sought is already on the public record.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is making good on his pledge to pour money into the state Democratic Party.

Koster contributed $100,000 from his campaign fund to the Democratic Party this past weekend. That raises his total contributions to the party to $200,000 over the past seven months.

Last year, Koster pledged to give $400,000 to the state Democratic Party over four years to try to help elect more Democrats to the Missouri House and Senate.

Republicans hold roughly two-thirds majorities in both legislative chambers.

Koster is planning to run for governor in 2016 and already has amassed more than $2 million in his campaign account.

META, Mo. (AP) — A young bear has been struck and killed by a vehicle on a rural road in central Missouri.

KRCG-TV reports  it happened Monday morning near the town of Meta  in Maries County.

Black bears are native to Missouri and were once abundant in the state. The Conservation Department says they became rare by 19850 and were nearly gone from Missouri by 1931.

But they’ve been making a comeback in recent years as bears reintroduced in Arkansas began moving north.

LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists are beginning a major study to see if an experimental drug can protect healthy seniors whose brains harbor silent signs that they’re at risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

It’s one of the most ambitious attempts yet to thwart Alzheimer’s. Researchers expect to screen thousands of volunteers ages 65 to 85, hunting those whose brain scans show they have a sticky build-up believed to play a key role in development of Alzheimer’s. That doesn’t guarantee someone will get sick. But the study will test if early use of a drug designed to target the gunk makes a difference for those who do.

Whether the drug works or not, researchers say the unique study should give new insight into Alzheimer’s risks and how people cope with the knowledge.