JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri could soon have two new programs honoring military members who served during the wars in Iraq.

Legislators gave final approval Thursday to a bill creating medallion programs for people who served on active military duty between August 1990 and June 1991, or between March 2003 and December 2011.

Those who served during the first era could receive “Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm” medallions. Those who served during the second era could receive “Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn” medallions.

Missouri already has similar medallion programs for veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

The Senate passed the bill without opposition. It previously passed the House and goes now to Gov. Jay Nixon.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Microsoft is releasing a security update for Internet Explorer that closes a gap that allowed attackers to take complete control of a computer. It also issued the update to Windows XP users, despite dropping support for the older operating system last month.

The update went live on Thursday.

Adrienne Hall, general manager of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, said in a statement that the company decided to fix the problem quickly for all customers, saying it takes the security of its products “incredibly seriously.”

Microsoft reported the problem Saturday, saying it was aware of “limited, targeted attacks” and that the vulnerability affected Internet Explorer versions 6 through 11

The company said users with automatic updates enabled don’t need to take any action.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – The Missouri House has passed a budget plan for various projects around the state, including new college buildings and seed money for a possible Republican National Convention.

The House voted 137-9 on Thursday to send the measure to the Senate. The spending plan includes $38 million for a new engineering facility at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

It also includes funding for new voting machines and campus projects where costs are split evenly between the state and school.

Democrats criticized the bill because it includes $4 million for a Missouri city to host a national political party convention. Kansas City is a finalist to host the Republican gathering in 2016.

Lawmakers have until May 9 to pass all budget-related bills.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is voicing reservations about the idea of letting students in unaccredited districts transfer to nonreligious private schools at public expense.

The Legislature is working on revisions to Missouri’s law requiring unaccredited districts to pay transportation and tuition for students to transfer to nearby public schools.

The House and Senate have both endorsed versions that would also allow transfers to private schools. Unaccredited districts would pay for those transfers using revenue from local taxes.

Nixon said Thursday public money shouldn’t be spent for private education. He says funding for school districts already is limited and noted that Missouri’s formula for providing basic aid to districts is not fully funded.

TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) — Honda is recalling 24,889 Odyssey minivans from the 2014 model year because their side air bags may not deploy during a crash.

Honda says a shorting terminal, which prevents deployment of the air bag before it’s put into the vehicle, may have been damaged during the assembly process. That may illuminate the air bag warning light and prevent the side curtain air bags from deploying.

Honda says no crashes or injuries have been reported related to the issue, which was discovered through warranty repairs.

Dealers will repair the minivans for free. Honda will notify owners starting May 16.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — More than 150,000 Missouri residents signed up for health insurance policies through a federally run website, easily exceeding projections due to a surge of people who waited until a looming deadline to enroll.

The figures released Thursday by President Barack Obama’s administration were touted by Missouri health care advocates who had been promoting the program through advertisements, community events and social media.

With a little more than a month to go before the March 31 enrollment deadline, about 68,000 Missouri residents had selected a health insurance plan through the federal website — well shy of the target of 118,000 people set by Obama’s administration. Enrollment more than doubled in the final month, for a total of 152,335.

The figures released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services do not indicate how many of people followed through on their enrollment by paying their insurance premiums. They also do not indicate how many of those people previously were uninsured and how many switched from a different private health insurance plan.

Missouri had about 800,000 people without health insurance.

The state could have run its own health insurance exchange, but lawmakers decided to let the federal government do it. Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature has tried to avoid any participation in Obama’s health care law.

The online insurance marketplaces were intended to be just one means of reducing the ranks of the uninsured. They offer federal tax credits to subsidize insurance policies for people live above poverty. The federal law also had envisioned that Medicaid health care programs would be expanded to adults earning up to 138 percent of the poverty level, or nearly $33,000 annually for a family of three.

But about half the states, including Missouri, have declined to expand Medicaid eligibility. As a result, there are thousands of low-income Missouri residents who neither qualify for Medicaid nor qualify for subsidized insurance policies through the online marketplace.

Of those who signed up for policies in Missouri, about 85 percent received financial assistance, according to the figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Get your arms and legs limbered up. Missouri lawmakers have OK’d an official state exercise.

The Senate gave final approval Thursday to legislation that would make the jumping jack Missouri’s official exercise.

The House passed the measure earlier this year. So it now needs only the signature of Gov. Jay Nixon to become law.

Why the jumping jack and not the pushup?

Students from at St. Joseph’s Pershing Elementary School lobbied for the jumping jack in honor of Gen. John J. Pershing.

The Missouri-born general led U.S. forces in World War I and is credited with inventing the jumping jack as a training drill for cadets when he taught at West Point.

Some of the students were present Thursday as the Senate voted 25-5 for the bill. They applauded.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling more than 50,000 luxury SUVs to fix a computer error that can delay acceleration for three or four seconds.

The recall affects some Cadillac SRX SUVs from the 2013 model year with 3.6-Liter V6 engines.

GM says in documents filed with U.S. safety regulators that the problem happens when the transmission shifts from first to second gear and the driver brakes the vehicle to under 5 miles per hour. The company says a lag in acceleration can increase the risk of a crash.

GM dealers will update the transmission control computer at no cost to customers. No date has been set yet for the recall to begin.

GM has recalled about 7 million vehicles since February, including 2.6 million for a deadly ignition switch problem.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers have given final approval to a bill that would allow use of a cannabis extract by people whose epilepsy isn’t relieved by other treatments.

On Thursday, the Senate passed the bill 32-0. House members later approved it 136-12, which sends the legislation to Gov. Jay Nixon.
The bill would allow use of “hemp extract” containing little of the substance that makes marijuana users feel high and greater amounts of a chemical called cannabidiol, or CBD.

Senators approved the measure after Sen. Eric Schmitt gave an impassioned speech about his son, who has epilepsy. Schmitt says he doesn’t know if CBD oil will work but that a lot of families are willing to try. Schmitt’s family watched the debate from the Senate chamber.