JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri lawmakers are running out of time to consider ethics legislation this year before the Legislature’s mandatory adjournment in mid-May.

Although legislative leaders remain hopeful something will pass, a familiar pattern of opposition has emerged that suggests legislators are at an impasse.

Democratic attempts to reinstate limits on campaign contributions have thwarted recent attempts to impose restrictions on lobbying expenses. Republicans say campaign finance and ethics should be two separate issues, while Democrats argue that curbing influence can’t happen without limiting donations.

The end result of the gridlock could be that lobbyists have at least one more year to spend lavishly on efforts to influence public policy. During the first three months of this year, legislators raked in more than $400,000 in freebies from lobbyists.

ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Heat and dry weather forecast for Kansas this weekend are expected to strain a winter wheat crop already battered by drought conditions and early spring freezes.

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — Wells’ Dairy says it is voluntarily recalling one of its Blue Bunny ice cream products for a labeling problem.

The Le Mars, Iowa-based company said in a news release Saturday that packages of 56 fluid-ounce Blue Bunny Premium Bordeaux Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream are being recalled because the product may contain egg not declared on the label. People who are allergic to egg could have a severe reaction if they consume the ice cream.

The packages were sold at retail grocery stores in Kansas, Indiana and Iowa. The products affected are from Lot Number 40010 TTT 19115, and have a best-used-by date of Oct. 9, 2015.

The company says no customers have reported any illnesses in connection with the ice cream to date.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri lawmakers are working through how to pay for a new mental health facility at the Fulton State Hospital campus.

The hospital is Missouri’s only maximum-security psychiatric facility. Patients include those committed by the courts for evaluation and treatment, and people found not guilty or unable to stand trial because of mental disease.

Officials could back the issuance of bonds for the project. They must decide what state board should issue them and how quickly to pay them off.

A longer payment schedule would require devoting less money each year but require more overall interest payments. Paying off the bonds sooner would mean less interest but tie up more state funds during that period.

The deadline for passing budget bills is Friday and May 16 for non-budget legislation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has affirmed that two farming brothers should not have been found negligent in a 2007 fatal crash where tall corn created a blind intersection.

The crash occurred on Oct. 6, 2007, in Saunders County, when two pickups collided at an intersection where the view was obstructed by 7-foot-tall corn planted only feet from the road. The crash killed one passenger and left another, Thomas Latzel, a quadriplegic who died from his injuries three years later.

Latzel’s wife, Amanda, sued the truck drivers and the farmers who planted the corn. But a Saunders County District Court judge granted a motion to dismiss the farmers — Ronald and Doug Bartek — from the lawsuit, saying the fault was with the truck drivers for entering a blind intersection.

BY ESTIL FRETWELL,  director of public affairs with Missouri Farm Bureau 

Dad would have tears in his eyes from laughing as he told the story of the day Roby and he were spared harm in more ways than one. I enjoyed hearing Dad’s tale of a time when farming was much different and of youthful foolishness that with age became humorous. Following is the story as Dad would tell it (with a few of my narrative embellishments).

Jefferson City, –With the April 30 retirement of State Fire Marshal Randy Cole, Gov. Jay Nixon has named Assistant State Fire Marshal Greg Carrell to serve as the acting State Fire Marshal over the Division of Fire Safety.

Cole had served as State Fire Marshal since 2005. Carrell has been the Assistant State Fire Marshal since 2005, and has been with the Division of Fire Safety since 1986. Before joining the division, Carrell was a police officer in St. James, Mo.

The Missouri State Fire Marshal’s Office was established by statute in 1972, and became known as the Division of Fire Safety in 1986. In addition to conducting fire investigations across the state, the division operates the Firefighter Training and Certification Program, the Fire Safety Inspection Program, the Elevator Safety Program, the Amusement Ride Safety Program, the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Program, and the Fireworks Licensing and Inspection Program.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sleep deprived Americans have a new option to address hard-to-treat nighttime breathing problems: a first-of-kind device that keeps airways open by zapping them with an electrical current

The Food and Drug Administration approved the pacemaker-like device from Inspire Medical Systems for sleep apnea patients who have trouble with the current standard of care: machines that blow air through a bedtime mask.

One of the main causes of sleep apnea is that the tongue and throat muscles relax too much during sleep, often blocking breathing and waking the person up. Sufferers loose crucial sleep time and are at higher risk for car accidents, heart attack and stroke.

Inspire’s device treats the problem by stimulating a nerve that controls key airway muscles so that they stay in place and don’t block breathing.