JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Federal gun laws that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms would be deemed null and void under legislation passed by the Missouri House.

The House voted 110-41 on Thursday to send the bill to the Senate. Senators passed a similar bill earlier this year, but both chambers need to approve an identical version to send the legislation to Gov. Jay Nixon.

Courts have ruled that states cannot nullify federal laws. Nixon, a Democrat, vetoed a similar bill last year over concerns it violated a part of the U.S. Constitution that gives federal laws precedence over conflicting state laws.

WASHINGTON – Slamming a “culture of cover-up,” U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today demanded answers from General Motors (GM) CEO Mary Barra, as well as the national highway safety chief and Inspector General for the Department of Transportation on GM’s slow action to recall 2.6 million vehicles for defective ignition switches that have been linked to at least 13 deaths-including a fatality in Missouri. McCaskill grilled witnesses on GM’s decisions over more than 10 years to not issue a safety recall-despite the fact that engineers discovered the problem in 2004-and questioned whether the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has the capability, data, and resources to effectively monitor vehicle safety defects.

“Thousands of my constituents in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas go to work for General Motors every day building some of the finest cars on the road,” said McCaskill, Chairman of the Senate’s Consumer Protection Subcommittee. “I am proud of them and I am proud of their work. This is not their failure. They and the American public were failed by a corporate culture that chose to conceal rather than disclose. And by a safety regulator that failed to act.”

Last month, GM announced that it was recalling approximately 1.6 million vehicles to correct a defect with the ignition switches that caused them to move out of position while the car was on, triggering a loss of power and stopping the airbags from deploying properly. GM announced Friday that it was expanding the recall to cover 2.6 million vehicles.

A GM ignition switch engineer became aware of the defect, but did not disclose the information-apparently lying under oath during his testimony in a lawsuit related to a 2010 crash.

McCaskill said of the engineer, “It is hard for me to imagine you would want him anywhere near engineering anything at GM under these circumstances, and I for the life of me can’t understand why he still has his job. I know you want to be methodical, I know you want to be thorough, I know you want to get this right. But I think it sends exactly the wrong message.”

McCaskill highlighted the fact that the switch issue was brought to light by a trial lawyer, rather than GM itself, while he investigated the death of his client.

“I want to know in how many cases they buried this document,” McCaskill said. “Because this is what happens in America. Corporations think they can get away with hiding documents from litigants and that there will be no consequences. And I want to make sure there’s consequences for hiding documents. Because this is hiding the truth from families that need to know. And it’s outrageous. And it needs to stop.”

McCaskill also grilled Barra on whether there was a persistent culture of cover-up and lack of accountability at the company that persisted for over a decade-questioning why the company waited to take action after learning of the faulty ignition switch, saying: “That is incredibly frustrating that to me that you wouldn’t have a simple timeline of what happened once you got that knowledge. So it went on for nine months. You had no idea, even though you were in the executive leadership of level in the company at the time.”

McCaskill’s panel also heard testimony from NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman, and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Inspector General Calvin Scovel, where she examined the resources at NHSTA’s disposal to conduct investigations and enforce safety compliance.

“I think we need to have the resources and the expertise at NHTSA to find these defects and then obviously we’ve got to have the transparency in the process that is available to the public and available to anyone who wants to see it,” McCaskill said.

McCaskill and the Subcommittee will examine potential legislative solutions to addresses possible problems with NHTSA’s defect investigation and recall processes as the subcommittee looks to craft vehicle safety provisions of the surface transportation authorization due to expire later this year.

WARRENSBURG, Mo. (AP) — Emergency crews rescued a few motorists after storms pushed across western Missouri, forcing creeks out of their banks.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood watches for much of Missouri on Thursday and said areas along Interstate 70 received up to 6 inches of rain in the last three days.

Johnson County crews rescued a woman early Thursday after she became stranded in her vehicle by rising water. Three rescuers also needed help after their jet skis became clogged with debris and were disabled. Pettis County crews also rescued a man whose vehicle was swept into a field at a waterway crossing.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge is hearing arguments about whether to stop a policy by Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration allowing legally married same-sex couples to file joint state tax returns.

Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem scheduled a hearing Thursday on the request for a temporary restraining order. Several Missouri residents have filed a lawsuit challenging an executive order by Nixon to accept joint returns from same-sex couples who were legally married in another state.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita clinic says it has provided about 1,200 abortions in the year since it opened.

The South Wind Women’s Center says it served about 1,500 patients for reproductive care, including abortions up to 14 weeks. The Wichita Eagle reports patients came from across Kansas, as well states such as Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

The center operates in the same building where Dr. George Tiller provided abortions before he was murdered at his church in 2009. It is the only clinic that offers abortions in Wichita.

Kansas health officials say the number of abortions in the state declined slightly last year despite the clinic opening. A preliminary report says 7,479 abortions were performed last year, the second-lowest number since 1987. A total of 7,598 abortions were performed in 2012.

FORSYTH, Mo. (AP) — Perjury charges have been filed against the wife of one of the men charged in the deaths of a southwest Missouri couple.

KYTV reports Carolyn Campbell is charged in Taney County with three counts of perjury. She’s accused of lying to the grand jury that indicted her husband, Robert Campbell, in the April 2011 deaths of Rusty and Rebecca Porter of Willard.

A Taney County jury on Monday convicted Windy Friend of first-degree murder in the deaths. Her husband, Tony Friend, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to life in prison.

Online records don’t list a lawyer for Carolyn Campbell.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The fourth defendant in a $2 million fraud committed at a southwest Missouri grain mill has been sentenced to about three years in federal prison.

Lyle E. Tourtillot, of Nevada, was sentenced Wednesday to three years and one month in prison without parole. The Joplin Globe reports he was also ordered repay Cargill about $1 million. He pleaded guilty Sept. 3 to two counts of mail fraud in a case involving three other co-defendants.

The defendants were accused of taking part in a scheme at the mill from December 1999 through March 2013 that involved creating scale tickets for fictitious loads of grain.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A Missouri House panel has adopted a measure that would eliminate renewals on payday loans and lower the amount of interest borrowers can currently charge.

Under current law, payday loans can be up to $500 and last from 14 to 31 days. Loans can be renewed up to six times.

In Missouri, a borrower cannot be charged more than $75 in interest and fees for a $100 loan. The measure endorsed by the House Financial Institutions Committee on Wednesday would lower that cap to $35.

The bill also allows a borrower to sign up for additional time to pay back a loan without penalty.

The Senate passed the measure earlier this year, but its version removed the cap on the amount of interest a borrower can be charged.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), who serves as a member of Senate Republican leadership and as a member of both the defense authorizing and appropriations committees, released the following statement tonight in response to reports of a deadly shooting at Fort Hood, Texas:

“This is a terrible tragedy for all Americans, especially for those who are willing to serve and for their families. Our military bases on American soil should be the safest place possible for our servicemen and women and for their loved ones. It’s hard enough to fight wars with no front lines. We cannot accept that our military bases are not secure for the people and families who sacrifice to protect our country.”