SPRINGFIELD (AP) – A pregnant Springfield woman who was found dead in her home had reported being a victim of domestic assault several times in the past.

Court records indicated 26-year-old Jessica Conner suffered what appeared to be several stab wounds before she was found dead Friday at her home. Police reports indicate she had black eyes and dried blood under her nose.

Police spokeswoman Lisa Cox said Wednesday no one has been arrested in the case.

Greene County prosecutor Dan Patterson says Conner had reported being a victim of domestic violence many times in recent years, with several different suspects.

The Springfield News-Leader reports his office filed charges on some of the cases but Patterson said Conner would not cooperate in recently filed cases.

LIBERTY- Two people were injured in an early morning crash in Clay County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported the crash occurred just after midnight as 1997 Ford driven by Joshua C. Elliot, 20, Cameron was southbound on I-35.

The driver fell asleep and the vehicle ran off the left side of the road into the median and hit guard cables.

Elliot and a passenger Cheyenne C. Underwood, 20, Gladstone were transported to Liberty Hospital.

The MSHP reported they were both wearing seat belts.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A central Missouri county has hired four attorneys to help defend itself and three employees named in a lawsuit filed on behalf of a man whose murder conviction was overturned after he served nearly a decade behind bars.

The Columbia Daily Tribune  reports Ryan Ferguson filed an amended federal civil rights suit earlier this month against Boone County, former prosecuting attorney Kevin Crane and investigators Ben White and William Haws.

Ferguson was convicted in 2005 of killing Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt in 2001, but a three-judge state appeals court panel vacated his convictions last year because prosecutors wrongly withheld evidence favorable to Ferguson’s defense.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Department of Conservation says a group of prairie chickens has been brought to the state from Nebraska.

Forty-five chicks were released at the Dunn Range Prairie in northwest Missouri, the department said Wednesday. This is the second year of a three-year program to help repopulate the endangered species.

As of this spring, the department counted only 12 prairie chickens at Dunn Range.

Prairie chickens can indicate overall grassland health. The birds, considered a grassland grouse, also can travel long distances and intermingle between flocks. Rainy and cool nesting seasons diminished Missouri’s population.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri lawmakers are considering official designation for the jumping jack.

A bill is proposing to make the jumping jack Missouri’s official state exercise. Missouri-born Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing is credited as inventing jumping jacks as a training drill for cadets when he taught at West Point in the late 1800s.

The proposal is supported by students at Pershing Elementary School in St. Joseph.

The legislation has cleared the House and will be considered by a state Senate committee.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House has endorsed a pair of early voting measures, though some Democrats contend they could create confusion for a proposed initiative petition that seeks to go further in allowing advanced voting.
House members gave first-round approval Wednesday to a constitutional amendment and companion bill.

It would allow early voting for nine days, ending the week before state and federal elections. Polls would be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week and four hours on Saturday. There will not be early voting on Sunday.
The initiative petition would allow early voting for six weeks, including weekends for the final 21 days.
Democratic critics say the House proposal is a “sham” and that politics are at play.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is describing a tax-cut bill passed by the Legislature as a “reckless fiscal experiment.”

The Democratic governor indicated Wednesday that he likely will veto the income tax cut, just as he did a similar bill passed last year by the Republican-led Legislature.

Nixon convened a news conference to denounce the legislation a mere hour after the House gave it final approval on a 104-48 vote.

The legislation would gradually cut Missouri’s top individual income tax rate and phase in a new deduction for people who report business income on personal tax returns. The tax cuts would begin in 2017, but only if state revenues keep rising.

Nixon says the tax cuts would “drastically slash the income of our state” and harm education funding.