JEFFRSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Some lawmakers want to revive a Missouri program that funded property tax rebates for senior and disabled homeowners hit by rapidly rising property taxes.

But they’re meeting more resistance than when the program was originally enacted a decade ago.
The tax rebate program created under a 2004 law used state funds to offset property tax hikes above a certain percent for the disabled and seniors with incomes of up to $70,000.

From the 2007 to 2011 fiscal years, the state budgeted $7.5 million for the program.
But it has since expired.

A Senate committee heard testimony this past week on bills to revive it. But some committee members are now questioning why the state should get involved in local property tax issues.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A dispute between KCP&L and Missouri energy regulators could be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and might eventually lead to increased rates for Missouri customers.

The question is whether Missouri customers should pay KCP&L’s costs for transmitting power to Missouri from a plant in Mississippi. When the utility company acquired the Mississippi plant in 2011, the Missouri Public Service Commission said Missouri customers didn’t have to pay the transmission costs.

The utility wants to cover the transmission costs from the Mississippi plant by raising rates on 309,000 customers in the former Aquila service area through 2032.

WARRENSBURG–A driver was injured in a Sunday morning crash with a tree in Johnson County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported the crash occurred just before 2 a.m., as a 2008 Mazda driven by Joshua E. VLasak, 25, Independence, MO., was northbound on Mo 131 a half mile south of NW 850 Road.

The driver failed to negotiate a curve and the vehicle to traveled off the right side of the road and hit a tree.  Vlasak was transported to Western Missouri Medical Center.

The MSHP reports Vlasak was properly restrained.

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A federal agency’s final report about its technical investigation into the 2011 Joplin tornado calls for nationally accepted standards for building design and construction, and public shelters and emergency communications to reduce deaths caused by tornadoes.

The final report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology was released Friday and doesn’t alter any of the investigation’s major findings or its 16 recommendations released in November. The study recommends the development and implementation of uniform national guidelines that enable communities to create the safest and most effective public sheltering strategies.

NIST lead investigator Marc Levitan told The Joplin Globe the final report is strengthened by clarifications and supplements suggested in response to the draft report.

The May 2011 Joplin tornado killed 161 people and destroyed thousands of buildings.

ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Farmers from across the nation gathered in Washington this month for their annual trek to seek action on the most important matters in American agriculture.

But this time, a new issue emerged: growing unease about how the largest seed companies are gathering vast amount of data from sensors on tractors, combines and other farm equipment. The sensors measure soil conditions, seeding rates, crop yields and many other variables.

Seed companies want to harness the data to help farmers grow more food with the same amount of land. But some farmers worry that the information could be hacked or exploited by corporations or government agencies. And they are serving notice that Congress might need to become involved in yet another debate over electronic security and privacy.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — New census figures show that Kansas has been losing more people than the state has been gaining recently.

Census data released Thursday shows that from 2010 to 2013, Kansas lost about 10,000 people because of outward migration. The census also showed that Kansas gained more than 16,000 people from international migration over the last four years, but lost nearly 27,000 to other states, which resulted in the net loss of about 10,000.

The Wichita Eagle reports the numbers don’t reveal why people left.

Kansas was also among the bottom 10 states in the number of people who moved in from other states compared with the number who moved out during the 12 months ending July 1, 2013.

6 p.m. UPDATE  TONGANOXIE, Kan. (AP) — A semi tractor-trailer crashed into an unmanned toll booth on the Kansas Turnpike in northeast Kansas, killing a 30-year-old Colorado man who was in the truck.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports a second person in the tractor-trailer was hospitalized in critical condition after the crash, which occurred about 3 a.m. Saturday when the truck ran into the toll booth on westbound Interstate 70 in Leavenworth County.

The Kansas Turnpike Authority identified the fatality victim as Sergiy Angelchev of Aurora, Colo.

The Kansas Highway Patrol said the truck was traveling at highway speeds and didn’t slow down before crashing into the toll booth. The truck’s engine landed about 50 yards from the booth.

The patrol says no one was in the booth because the toll booths are unmanned at night.

7:55 a.m. TONGANOXIE,–An investigation is underway following a deadly overnight accident on I-70. A semi-truck crashed into a toll booth at Kansas Turnpike west bound mile post 217 in Leavenworth County.

One person died in the crash and another was critically injured.

Nobody was in the toll booth during the crash.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reports the truck was traveling at highway speeds and didn’t slow down before crashing into the toll booth. The truck’s engine landed about 50 yards from the booth. The victim, who was not identified, was ejected and declared dead at the scene.

We will post additional details from the Kansas Highway Patrol as they become available.

The Associated press contributed to this report.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – A 38-year-old Springfield woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing a car with two children inside.

Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson told The Springfield News-Leader that Cynthia D. Brown was sentenced Thursday. Brown pleaded guilty in November 2013 to endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree, tampering in the first degree and leaving the scene of an accident.

She was accused of stealing the car in March 2013 after the owner left the keys in the vehicle – along with his 4-year-old son and 13-month-old daughter – while he briefly went into a store.

The incident resulted in an Amber Alert and a city-wide search for the missing children. Both children were recovered in good condition.

NEW YORK (AP) — A filing with the U.S. Department of Labor shows the United Auto Workers’ membership grew by nearly 9,000 people last year.

UAW’s membership in 2013 was 391,415, compared to 382,513 in 2012. The union has been steadily adding members since 2009, when General Motors and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy.

The auto industry has recovered from the bottom five years ago, but the UAW still faces many challenges.

Dues collected, which are the union’s main source of income, have fallen more than 40 percent since 2006. And membership is a fraction what it was in 1979, when the UAW had 1.5 million members.

The union also failed in February to rally enough support to organize Volkswagen’s factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., even with the passive support of Volkswagen’s management.