(AP) – A Missouri senator is calling on the Legislature to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation in light of a former University of Missouri football player’s decision to publicly come out as gay.

Michael Sam told news outlets Sunday he hopes to become the first openly gay player in the NFL.

State Sen. Scott Sifton, a St. Louis Democrat, said Monday that lawmakers should use Sam’s announcement as a rallying cry to pass anti-discrimination legislation.

Missouri law now bars discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex and disability. This year’s bill would add sexual orientation to that list.

Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon has also asked lawmakers to pass the bill, but his call received a tepid response from the Republican-controlled Legislature.

 (AP) – A former Republic Airlines pilot has pleaded guilty to threatening to torture and kill the company’s CEO and his family.

The U.S. attorney’s office says 37-year-old Matthew Richard Walker, of Faribault, Minn., entered the plea Monday in federal court in Kansas City.

Prosecutors said one threatening letter was discovered in August 2012 in the cockpit of an aircraft that was parked at Reagan National Airport in Washington. Four identical letters were later discovered on aircraft parked at Reagan International Airport, in Charlotte, N.C., and at Kansas City International Airport, as well as aboard an aircraft en route from Reagan National Airport to Indianapolis International Airport. A fifth letter was discovered in the KCI crew room.

Walker faces up to five years in federal prison without parole and a $25

(AP) – Missouri’s top corrections official is standing by the state’s current protocol that keeps the name of the company that provides an execution drug a secret.

Corrections Department Director George Lombardi told a House committee Monday that the secrecy is necessary to carry out executions in the state.

Missouri has executed three men with injections of pentobarbital, a powerful sedative acquired from a compounding pharmacy. The state considers the pharmacy to be a member of the “execution team,” which protects its identity from public records requests filed under state law.

Kansas City attorney Joseph Luby, who represents death row inmates, says the protocol prevents defendants from getting information that would be critical in appealing their sentences.

Missouri’s next execution is scheduled for Feb. 26.

2:30 p.m. LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Police in Lawrence have identified a man found shot to death in an apartment in the northern part of the city.

But the circumstances of the shooting of 23-year-old Franklin Spottedtail were still being investigated Monday, and police have not labeled it a homicide.

Officers were called to the apartment shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday after a caller told 911 operators that someone might have been stabbed. Police said Spottedtail was dead of a gunshot wound, not a stabbing, by the time officers arrived.

6:30 a.m.  (AP) — Lawrence police say the death of a man from a traumatic injury is considered suspicious.

The man was found dead early Sunday at an apartment after police received a call that was first reported as a stabbing.

He was dead when paramedics arrived. Authorities say he suffered a “traumatic injury” but did not elaborate.

Lawrence police have not released any information on the victim or any possible suspects.

(AP) – Former U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway says she is running for Missouri governor in 2016.

Hanaway’s announcement Monday makes her the first Republican to enter the race. Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster has been building a gubernatorial campaign since last year.

The office will be open because Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon is barred by term limits from seeking re-election.

Hanaway is a former state lawmaker from St. Louis County who in 2003 became the first women to serve as Missouri House speaker after helping Republicans win a majority in the chamber.

She lost a bid for secretary of state in 2004 but was appointed the next year by President George W. Bush to serve as U.S. attorney for the eastern Missouri. She held that position until April 2009.

(AP) A Joplin woman has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for her role in the abuse of a young girl was starved.

Twenty-eight-year-old Christina Haidle was sentenced Monday for felony abuse of a child.

The child was unconscious, barely breathing and had a blood sugar level of zero.

Williams pleaded guilty in November to felony child abuse. She’ll be sentenced Feb. 17.

The nonpartisan news magazine National Journal has released its annual rankings of members of Congress from liberal-to-conservative-and U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill has again landed exactly in the moderate middle, ranking #50 out of 100.

“I haven’t made folks on either extreme of the political spectrum happy, and I’ve stepped on a lot of toes since I came to the Senate, but that’s okay,” McCaskill said. “Because I wasn’t elected to make friends. I was elected to get results for Missouri families-to expand job opportunities, cut wasteful spending, and help clean up Washington so folks can have confidence in their federal government.”

Since joining the Senate, National Journal has consistently ranked McCaskill in the ten most moderate U.S. Senators-and also ranked her as #50 out of 100 in its 2012 rankings.

McCaskill has been criticized by some in her party over her strong support for the Keystone XL Pipeline, her bipartisan work to cap federal spending, and her longstanding battle against Congressional earmarks. McCaskill has also been targeted for criticism over her support for the Affordable Care Act, her work to end huge taxpayer handouts to big oil companies and multi-millionaires, and her success in bolstering accountability in government contracting.

From National Journal’s website: “For the 2013 ratings, National Journal examined all of the roll-call votes in the first session of the 113th Congress-641 in the House and 291 in the Senate-and identified the ones that show ideological distinctions between members. Many votes did not make the cut-those that involve noncontroversial issues or that fall along regional lines, for instance. In the end, 117 votes in the Senate and 111 votes in the House were selected and were categorized as economic, foreign, or social.”

 (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration is warning against eating Uncle Ben’s rice products served at schools, restaurants, hospitals and other food service institutions after children in three states had skin reactions and other symptoms that were linked to the rice.

Uncle Ben’s products in grocery stores have not been recalled.

Mars Foodservices of Greenville, Miss., is recalling 5- and 25-pound bags of the rice.

The FDA said that it found out on Feb. 7 that 34 students and four teachers in Katy, Texas, had experienced burning, itching rashes, headaches and nausea for 30 to 90 minutes after eating the rice. The symptoms eventually went away.

The FDA said 25 students in Illinois had reported a similar reaction in December. Another incident was reported in North Dakota in October.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama says a gay University of Missouri football player is “an inspiration to all of us.”

The first lady took to Twitter on Monday to comment on Michael Sam, the all-American college player who announced Sunday that he is gay. Mrs. Obama says she “couldn’t be prouder” of Sam’s courage, both on and off the field.

The tweet was signed “-mo,” which is how the White House marks messages personally sent by the first lady.

Sam could become the first openly homosexual player in the NFL. He’s scheduled to participate in the league’s weeklong scouting camp, where potential draftees are evaluated, later this month in Indianapolis. He is currently projected to be a mid-round draft pick in May.