KANSAS CITY (AP) – The Kansas City Housing Authority is drawing praise and anger for its decision to ban smoking in all public housing, beginning July 1.

The policy, which will prohibit smoking indoors and outdoors, affects more than 1,700 residential units and about 5,000 adults and children.

More than a dozen other large housing authorities on the coasts have taken similar steps.

Donovan Mouton, chairman of the Housing Authority board, says he expected much more opposition when the idea was first proposed but the authority heard from more nonsmokers who favored the idea.

The Kansas City Star reports some angry residents say they should be able to smoke in their own homes.

The Public Housing Resident Council endorsed the policy but wanted residents to have more time to adapt.

SEDALIA (AP) – Pettis County authorities say partial human remains were found in a trailer park and in a nearby wooded area.

The sheriff’s office says the remains were found Sunday outside a residence in the Goodwill Chapel Trailer Park. While processing that scene, deputies found more remains in woods near the park.

Authorities are investigating whether the two scenes are connected.

The remains will be transported to the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Boone County judge has granted what apparently is the first same-sex divorce in Missouri, which has a constitutional amendment against recognizing same-sex marriages.

Boone County Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider granted a divorce last month for Dena and Samantha Latimer, who were married in Massachusetts in 2009 and lived in Columbia.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports Schneider ruled that a Missouri court can recognize the law of the state where the marriage was performed “for the limited purpose of granting equitable relief.”
Tana Benner, a Columbia lawyer who represented Dena Latimer, said the Latimers were pleased the judge granted the divorce.

CHICAGO (AP) — Baby gates meant to protect young children aren’t always as safe as parents think. A new study says nearly 2,000 U.S. kids get emergency room treatment each year from injuries resulting from falling through or climbing on these gates.

Most injuries weren’t serious. But the researchers say parents should know about precautions. That includes using bolted gates, not pressure-mounted ones, at the top of the stairs.

Researcher Lara McKenzie and colleagues at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, examined data on kids up to age 6.

The number injured on gates more than tripled over 20 years. These cases climbed from about 4 per 100,000 children in 1990 to almost 13 per 100,000 in 2010.

The study is online in the journal Academic Pediatrics.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Department of Conservation is looking for volunteers to help with a study of turtle migration patterns.

The agency says participants in the turtle trapping and tagging study at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area near Columbia should be prepared to get messy. The conservation department is looking for help on four days, starting on May 14 through May 20. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Additional information is available by calling 573-445-3882.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers could decide this week whether to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of an income tax cut.
An override would require a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate. The vote would have to occur first in the Senate, because that’s where the bill originated.

Sponsoring Sen. Will Kraus, of Lee’s Summit, said he hoped to vote on the override Monday. Republicans hold a two-thirds Senate majority, and so they could approve an override without any Democratic support.

The bill then would go to the House, where Republicans are one vote shy of a two-thirds majority. That means they would need the support of at least one Democrat.
House Majority Leader John Diehl says he believes he has enough votes to override the veto.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill has introduced the Contracting and Tax Accountability Act, which prohibits companies or individuals with seriously delinquent federal tax debts from receiving government grants or contracts.

“This bill has a simple premise-if you don’t pay your taxes, you shouldn’t be awarded a federal contract, and if you lie about it, you shouldn’t be able to do business with the government again,” said McCaskill, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight and a former Missouri State Auditor. “When we’re dealing with the awarding of millions of taxpayer dollars in federal contracts, we have to hold companies accountable to ensure they’re playing by the rules-and serious tax delinquency should be a clear disqualifying factor in that process.”

The Contracting and Tax Accountability Act requires a person or entity applying for a federal contract or grant to certify whether they have a seriously delinquent tax debt. The bill also requires agencies to propose for suspension any applicant who certifies that they have a seriously delinquent tax debt and to propose for debarment any applicant who falsely certifies that they do not have a seriously delinquent tax debt. The bill defines “seriously delinquent tax debt” as an outstanding tax debt for which a notice of lien has been filed in public records.

Companion legislation was introduced by Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah and passed unanimously by the House of Representatives.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Senate is expected to debate legislation this week that would curb the ability of public employee unions to collect fees from workers’ paychecks.

Senate Republican leaders have called the measure a top priority this year. The bill passed the House previously and awaits action on the Senate calendar.

The legislation would require annual written authorization for unions to collect fees automatically deducted from a worker’s paycheck. Annual consent would also be required for a union to spend a member’s fees on political activities.

SENECA (AP) – Four people were killed and one person was injured in a three-vehicle accident in southwest Missouri.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the accident occurred Saturday two miles north of Seneca in Newton County as the first vehicle crossed the center line, hit the second car head on and then struck a third car.

The patrol identified the fatality victims in the first car as 19-year-old Zachery R. Justice and 24-year-old Daniel Mazzia, both of Springfield. Two people killed in the second car were identified as 57-year-old Tishia L. Brewer, of Goodman, and 55-year-old Charles E. Hubbard, of Fisk.

All were pronounced dead at the scene.

The patrol says a third person in the second car sustained serious injuries.