JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri students could use food, pencils or their hands to imitate a gun without penalty under legislation endorsed by the state House.

The bill advanced Wednesday would shield students from discipline of fines for “simulating a weapon while playing.”

Sponsoring Republican Rep. Mike Kelley, of Lamar, says he was motivated by the Maryland case of a Baltimore second-grader suspended last year for chewing a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun.

Opponents say the legislation could allow some students to encourage violence among their peers.

The measure would allow students to be disciplined for causing bodily harm, disrupting a learning environment or creating a serious threat. It needs one more vote before moving to the Senate.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – The Missouri secretary of state’s office says more businesses sought to organize in March than during the same month over the past decade.

The state on Wednesday reported about 4,500 business creation filings this March. That’s up about 300 from March 2013 and is also higher than in any other March over the past 10 years.

The number of newly created businesses generally has been growing in Missouri. They have risen each year since 2010 after declining in each of the three prior years.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Three Iowa men have been indicted on charges of robbing a northern Missouri bank of approximately $12,000 that was later found stashed in an evergreen tree.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says a grand jury in Kansas City returned the indictments Wednesday against Donald Kestner Jr. and Torrence Joseph O’Neill, both 26 and from Mount Pleasant, and 27-year-old Travis Joe Davis of Fort Dodge.

They’re accused in the March 21 armed robbery of Citizens Bank and Trust, located just south of the Iowa border in Burlington Junction, Mo.

Authorities said the suspects drove north and stashed their car in Iowa, then were captured after running back into Missouri. A plastic bag containing the cash was later found in a tree branch in Iowa.

The defendants did not have lawyers Wednesday.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri lawmakers are hearing the pros and cons of whether it makes good business sense to grant discrimination protections based on sexual orientation.

A Senate committee heard public testimony Wednesday on legislation adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to a list of outlawed reasons for discrimination that already includes such characteristics as race, religion and disabilities.

Supporters included lobbyists for Monsanto and several Democratic officeholders, who said such policies can help businesses attract the best-qualified employees.

Opponents included lobbyists for two of Missouri’s leading business associations, as well as Catholic and Baptist organizations. They said the legislation could subject businesses to a new flurry of lawsuits that may lack merit.

Sen. Jolie Justus says she hopes to amend her proposal to other bills before the session ends in mid-May.

ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A retiring congressman has lost his quixotic bid to give members of Congress $25 a day to help with their living expenses in Washington.

Democrat Jim Moran of Virginia offered the plan as a replacement for the cost of living increase that would be denied lawmakers under legislation heading to the House floor later this spring.

The House Appropriations Committee rejected Moran’s measure by a voice vote as it debated the congressional budget.

Members of Congress earn $174,000 a year and are supposed to receive annual cost of living pay raises.

Lawmakers have voted for five consecutive years to deny themselves the raise.

Moran — a 12-term lawmaker who’s retiring at year’s end — says Congress is at risk of becoming a bastion for the wealthy.

 

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri House member Rory Ellinger, of St. Louis County, has died after a battle against liver cancer.

Ellinger’s death Wednesday was announced in the House by Minority Leader Jake Hummel and in the Senate by Sen. Joe Keaveny, who had been Ellinger’s roommate in Jefferson City.

Ellinger was 72 years old.

The Democrat had announced last month that he would not seek re-election because of his health, and he had not been at the Capitol recently. Ellinger’s failing health sparked quick action by lawmakers to pass his legislation that could allow nursing mothers to be excused from jury duty.

Nixon signed the bill into law last Thursday during a ceremony with Ellinger in his home town of University City.

Ellinger first was elected to the House in 2010.

JOAN LOWY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators say they will propose requiring at least two crew members on trains transporting crude oil, as well as regulations aimed preventing parked train cars from coming loose and causing an accident.

The Federal Railroad Administration proposals are a response to several accidents involving oil trains from the Bakken region of North Dakota. Last July, an unattended parked train came loose, sped downhill into the town of Lac-Megantic in Quebec, Canada. More than 60 tank cars caught fire and several exploded, killing 47 people and destroying much of the town.

The train was manned by only one railroad employee, who wasn’t present at the time the cars came loose.

Freight rail industry officials have been divided over whether one-crew member trains should be allowed to continue.

 

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – The Republican-controlled Missouri House has passed a one-cent sales tax increase to fund transportation projects.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Move over, baseball. Busch Stadium in St. Louis will host an event next month featuring America’s real national pastime – eating.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that a qualifying event for the Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest at New York’s Coney Island will take place May 17 at Busch Stadium, prior to a Cardinals game.

The hot dog-eating contest starts at noon, with the Cardinals hosting the Atlanta Braves at 1:15 p.m. The top male and female contenders will advance to the New York contest.