ANNADA (AP) – For thousands of Missouri residents, flood insurance premiums are about to go up. 

People living in flood plains around the nation will soon see a jump in premiums through the National Flood Insurance Program, though a new law softens the blow a bit.

Under a 2012 statute, premiums could have risen from $2,000 annually to $13,000, but residential rate hikes are now limited to 18 percent a year.

In Missouri, people who live near the river are often poor or on fixed incomes. Dropping insurance isn’t an option for most because banks require mortgage holders to have it.

Selling property that’s so costly to insure is problematic.

Willie Richter, the mayor of West Alton, believes many people will simply be forced to abandon their homes.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Advocates for the poor say Missouri is making it harder for the state’s neediest residents to receive food stamps.

Officials with the Missouri Association for Social Welfare tell the St. Louis Post Dispatch that Missouri is the only state where fewer people have received food stamps through the Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance in recent years amid the recession and a subsequent slow recovery.

The state saw a 10.5 percent decrease in participants over the past five years, while other states had increased participation. State officials attribute the decreases to an improving economy. Activists counter that job cuts in the state’s Family Support Division offices are preventing clients from easily meeting with case workers, as the law requires.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota company is recalling some of its peanut butter, cheese, salsa and spreads that are distributed nationwide after authorities discovered some samples of the products contained listeria.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture says there have been no reports of illness from the bacterium and that Coon Rapids-based Parkers Farm Acquisition is cooperating with the investigation.

The company has issued a voluntary recall of several products with various sell-by dates. Consumers who bought these products are urged to return them to the store or throw them away.

The products are distributed nationwide under the Parkers Farm, Parkers, Happy Farms, Central Markets, Hy-Top, Amish Classic, Say Cheez, Win Schuler and Bucky Badger labels.

These items were sold at several stores, including Hy-Vee, Cub, Rainbow, Byerly’s, Lunds, Target, Whole Foods, Price Chopper, Nash Finch, Costco, ALDI, Wal-Mart and Brookshire stores.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — State conservation officials suspect arson in about 20 wildfires near the Truman Reservoir in west-central Missouri in the past week.
The Department of Conservation says the fires burned more than 1,000 acres of public and private land. No injuries or structural losses have been reported, but officials say wildfires can cause significant harm and that fighting them costs money and puts people at risk.
The conservation agency says crews have fought about 50 fires this year in Henry and St. Clair counties that have burned about 3,000 acres.
Officials are urging people to report any suspicious activity that could be related to intentionally set fires.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two Missouri agencies are encouraging residents to spend April cleaning up the state’s roadsides, parks, rivers and trails as part of the sixth annual “trash bash.”

Missouri’s Conservation and Transportation departments are sponsoring the event, which also includes educational efforts in schools, community events, Earth Day celebrations and media promotions.

Volunteers will receive thank-you pins commemorating the 30th birthday of Peanut the Turtle, who has lived with the Conservation Department since 1993.

The turtle crawled into a discarded plastic six-pack ring when it was young, causing its shell to be peanut-shaped as the turtle grew.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri continues to prepare for its third execution of the year.

Jeffrey Ferguson is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for the 1989 death of a 17-year-old St. Charles County girl. His attorneys have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) — The Missouri House is preparing to consider a proposed state budget that partly ties education funding to the strength of the economy.

House Majority Leader John Diehl says debate will begin this week on the budget for the next fiscal year. The plan endorsed by the House Budget Committee would add $122 million to the state’s $3 billion in basic school funding. But if state revenues meet more optimistic projections, then it would provide a $278 million increase for schools.

The House plan would also bar universities from offering resident tuition rates to students living in the U.S. illegally.

The Republican-led committee rejected Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s proposal to expand Medicaid eligibility to more lower-income adults. But its plan would restore adult dental coverage that was previously cut from Medicaid.

MOUNT VERNON, Mo. (AP) — Two adults and three children have been killed in a two-vehicle accident in southwest Missouri.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the accident occurred early Sunday when the vehicle carrying the five victims crossed the center line of a Lawrence County road and collided head on with a pickup.

The patrol identified the fatality victims as 27-year-old Lori L. Stephens of Van Buren; 30-year-old John A. Stephens of Van Buren; 4-year-old Tyler Pappan, 7-year-old Harly Pappan and 5-year-old David Pappan. The patrol says the children were from Ordway, Colo.

The patrol says the driver of the pickup was hospitalized with serious injuries.