MOBERLY (AP) – A leading shingle manufacturing company says it will build a new production facility in the central Missouri town of Moberly.

GAF Roofing said Tuesday that the 320,000-square-foot facility will have the largest production capacity of any shingle manufacturing plant in the industry. It will employ about 125 people and is expected to open by the end of 2017.

The company, headquartered in Wayne, N.J., describes itself as North America’s largest roofing manufacturer. The Moberly facility will be GAF’s 14th shingle plant and is intended to serve customers throughout the Midwest.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said GAF plans to spend about $149 million on the facility. He said it will be eligible for state tax incentives.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri’s Economic Development Department is citing “harsh winter weather” as a likely reason for a rise in the state’s February unemployment rate.

Figures released Tuesday show Missouri’s jobless rate was 6.4 percent last month. The department previously reported that unemployment held steady at 6 percent from December to January.

The national jobless rate in February was 6.7 percent.

Despite the unemployment rate increase, the department said Missouri added 1,300 jobs during February on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Missouri’s civilian labor force of about 3 million people grew by nearly 5,400 during February. The labor force includes people with jobs and those who are on unemployment but looking for work.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – Police say several people have been arrested but no injuries were reported after shots were fired outside the Kansas City Zoo.

Officers heard the gunfire in the parking lot shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday as the zoo was preparing to close for the day. Admission was free Tuesday for residents of Jackson and Clay counties, and warm weather helped attract an especially large number of visitors.

Police and witnesses said the arrests were made amid several fights in the parking lot. Officers did not immediately find the person who fired the shots.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jim Stowers Jr., the billionaire founder of one of the nation’s leading investment management firms who gave away most of his fortune to fight disease, has died. He was 90.

A joint release from the Kansas City, Mo., research firm that bears his name says Stowers died Tuesday after a period of declining health.

It later became American Century Investments, one of the nation’s leading investment firms that now manages about $141 billion.

Stowers and his wife both successfully fought cancer. In 2000, they promised more than $1 billion to create the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The mid-February kidnapping death of a 10-year-old Springfield girl has led to calls to changes Missouri’s Amber Alert system.

Fourth-grader Hailey Owens was walking just a block from her home when she was abducted. Springfield police responded within 10 minutes of the initial 911 call. But the statewide child abduction alert didn’t go out for more than two hours.

Middle school football coach Craig Michael Wood has been charged in the girl’s death after police reported finding her body in Wood’s basement.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says the level of additional judicial scrutiny of public school funding depends largely on how legislators respond to the recent court ruling.

The Republican attorney general offered his views on the March 7 Kansas Supreme Court ruling to the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. Committee members are trying to come up with a financial solution to satisfy the court’s orders.

The court ruled that past cuts in state aid to poor school districts created unconstitutional gaps in funding between them and wealthier districts. The court ordered lawmakers to fix the problem by July 1.

Schmidt reiterated that legislators have options for complying with the decision, ranging from full compliance as ordered to spending a lesser amount and modifying the school funding formula.

BERNIE, Mo. (AP) — Tres Johnson wasn’t expected to live through his first day. Ten years later, his mother calls him “our little miracle,” but says medical marijuana could greatly improve her child’s life. Now, Brandy Johnson is joining the effort to decriminalize marijuana in Missouri.

Tres, of Bernie, Mo., was born with diprosopus, which is Greek for “two faces.” It is commonly referred to as cranial duplication. The Dexter Daily Statesman reports that there are just 35 known cases throughout the world.

Johnson and her son were in Jefferson City earlier this month, where she testified in favor of a House bill that would decriminalize marijuana.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – The parents of a 10-year-old southwest Missouri girl who was kidnapped and killed last month are suing the man accused of murdering their daughter.

The Springfield News-Leader reports Stacey Barfield and Markus Owens, biological parents of Hailey Owens, filed the wrongful death suit last week in Greene County. They are seeking financial damages against Craig Michael Wood, who is charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and child kidnapping in connection with Hailey’s death.

The petition says Wood was seen kidnapping Hailey on February 18, and that the girl’s body was found at his home the next day.

The family’s attorney, David Ransin, says he is representing the parents at a lesser fee and donating the money to a nonprofit organization that fights child abuse