Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced their plans to allow Southwest Airlines to temporarily operate a route from Kansas City International Airport (MCI) to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) beginning Feb. 1, 2014. Southwest Airlines recently petitioned for this authority to ensure no interruption of service following Frontier Airlines’ decision to discontinue daily nonstop service beginning Jan. 31, 2014.

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development – welcomed this news:

“The seamless transition following Frontier’s departure is very good news for Kansas City and air travelers in Kansas,” Sen. Moran said. “As the nation’s largest low-cost air carrier and MCI’s largest airline, Southwest is well-suited to provide travelers flying between Kansas City and Washington, D.C., with an affordable travel option. Maintaining access to air service is essential to connecting Kansas businesses to the rest of the country.”

Last fall, Frontier Airlines was sold to private-equity firm Indigo Partners, LLC. The new ownership decided to discontinue its current route exemptions, allocated by the DOT, for daily nonstop service between MCI and DCA. While DOT begins months-long formal proceedings to reallocate the routes, Southwest Airlines will be allowed to fly between MCI and DCA on a temporary basis.

Southwest Airlines is the nation’s largest domestic airline with a national route structure, allowing Kansas City to serve as a one-stop/connecting option for travelers flying between Washington, D.C., and other points in the United States.

 (AP) – The Missouri attorney general’s office will investigate rising propane prices and a possible shortage of the gas.

Attorney General Chris Koster said Monday he has received many complaints of prices topping $5 per gallon. Republican Sen. Mike Parson, of Bolivar, had called on Koster to investigate the issue to make sure companies aren’t price-gouging.

The Missouri Propane Gas Association says the rising costs are caused by higher exports and increased domestic demand due to colder weather and large crop yields. Propane is used to heat homes and to dry crops after a harvest.

Koster says his office is working with nine other Midwest states in its investigation. Parson introduced a Senate resolution Monday asking the Department of Justice to also investigate the issue.

(AP) – A Missouri Senate committee is considering legislation to require voters to show photo identification at polling places, amid warnings from the state’s top elections official that 220,000 people would be unable to vote if the bill passed.

Democratic Secretary of State Jason Kander said Monday that 150,000 registered voters currently don’t have a government-issued

ID that would satisfy the measure’s requirements. He says an additional 70,000 voters have expired licenses.

Sponsoring Sen. Will Kraus, a Lee’s Summit Republican, told colleagues at Monday’s hearing that the bill is necessary to preserve the integrity of elections. His legislation would not apply to people born before 1941.

Previous attempts to require photo identification from voters have been struck down by courts or vetoed by the governor.

(AP) — The government and leading Internet companies have agreed to a compromise allowing companies to reveal how often they are ordered to turn over information about their customers in national security investigations.

The Justice Department announced the deal Monday with Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc., Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. Other companies are expected to participate once it’s approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Companies wanted to make the disclosures to alleviate public speculation about their cooperation with the government. The government opposed the companies’ request, saying it could interfere with national security investigations.

The reporting will be in very general terms. Companies will have to wait six months before releasing information about intelligence orders.

The Better Business Bureau is warning cellphone users about a new scam that can result in unauthorized charges appearing on their monthly bills.

Consumers across the country report getting calls on their mobile phones during which the caller hangs up. This is being called the “one-ring scam” because the perpetrators program their computers to blast out thousands of calls to random cellphone numbers, ring once and then disconnect.

“The objective is to make you curious about a call you missed and return it right away. When you call back … you are connected to a paid international adult entertainment service or ‘chat’ line located outside the country,” said Jim Hegarty, BBB president and CEO.

Victims subsequently are billed not only for the incoming international call if they answer, but also the unwanted “premium service,” which typically appears as a $19.95 charge. In some cases, the scammers might only put a small charge of several dollars, so as not to arouse suspicion.

The area codes that appear on the caller ID often originate from the Dominican Republic (809), Jamaica (876), British Virgin Islands (284) and Grenada (473).

The practice of third parties placing unauthorized charges on wireless accounts is called “cramming.” The Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission have reviewed thousands of complaints about the practice and expect the problem to grow.

Better Business Bureau recommends if you don’t recognize an out-of-state telephone number on your caller ID, ignore it. If you do answer, do not call back. Check your wireless bills carefully and inform your carrier if you spot any unauthorized charges.

(AP)  Missouri curators say they expect a public discussion this week of a former university swimmer’s allegations that she had been sexually assaulted by several football players before later committing suicide.

The Board of Curators meet Wednesday in Columbia. Curators David Bradley and Wayne Goode told The Associated Press Monday the board will review system President Tim Wolfe’s call for an external legal review into Sasha Menu Courey’s death in 2011.

The university said Saturday that it turned its information about the allegations over to Columbia police after ESPN’s story.

 (AP) — A freight-shipping broker plans to hire 400 workers this year in Kansas City.

Freightquote, which used incentives to move from Lenexa, Kan., to Kansas City last year, currently employs 1,000 people.

The firm moved into its new headquarters in south Kansas City after receiving a state and city incentive package valued at $64.3 million over 23 years.

In return for the incentives, Freightquote pledged to grow to 1,350 employees by 2016.

(AP) – Attorneys for condemned inmate Herbert Smulls are pressing on with concerns about Missouri’s execution drug, even as the state prepares for its third execution since November.

Smulls is scheduled to die by injection one minute after midnight Wednesday for killing St. Louis County jeweler Stephen Honickman in 1991. On Sunday, attorneys for Smulls filed a motion with U.S. District Court. It alleges that the state’s refusal to name the compounding pharmacy that makes Missouri’s execution drug prohibits them from proving that the execution method could cause pain and suffering for the inmate.

His attorneys have also asked for clemency from Gov. Jay Nixon.

St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch says Smulls callously planned the killing, and deserves to be executed for the crime.

(AP) — Some Missouri State University students who worked for more than a year on a solar project are disappointed that school officials have stalled the project.

The students spent 18 months devising a way to put solar panels on top of Meyer Library on the Springfield campus. It was approved by student groups and was to be paid for with funds from a $2 per semester student sustainability fee.

The Springfield News-Leader reports (http://sgfnow.co/1fq8g2m ) the school’s Planning, Design and Construction Department stopped the project by making changes that greatly increased the cost. The main disagreement was over how to install the panels to the library’s roof.

One of the students, Shane Franklin, plans to meet with the university’s architect in February to see if the project can revived.