(AP)  Sites related to former president Harry Truman apparently will remain closed for the foreseeable future.

The Truman Farm Home in Grandview and a home near where the Trumans lived in Independence were closed last March after mandated federal budget reductions. The Truman home, where Harry and Beth Truman lived for most of their married lives, remains open but only five days a week.

The Truman Home is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

 (AP) — The Supreme Court has put same-sex marriages on hold in Utah, at least while a federal appeals court more fully considers the issue.

The court issued a brief order Monday blocking any new same-sex unions in the state.

The order follows an emergency appeal by the state following the Dec. 20 ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violates gay and lesbian couples’ constitutional rights.

More than 900 gay and lesbian couples have married since then.

The high court order will remain in effect until the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decides whether to uphold Shelby’s ruling.

(AP) — Bad weather has delayed plans to open three new schools in Joplin that were built to replace schools damaged by the May 2011 tornado.

Joplin school officials planned to open Irving and Soaring Heights elementary schools and East Middle School on Monday, more than 2 1/2 years after the tornado destroyed or damaged several schools and district buildings. The district called off school Monday because of bitterly cold temperatures.

Superintendent C.J. Huff told The Joplin Globe that the schools probably will open Tuesday but the situation will be evaluated later Monday.

The National Weather Service says temperatures are expected to be between zero and minus 10 throughout the Joplin region Monday morning, with wind chills dropping to minus 25 in some areas.

Monday update    (AP) — A 20-year-old man and a juvenile female are jailed after a man’s tortured body was found at a northwest Missouri lake.

The victim, 58-year-old Mark Thomas of Liberty, was found dead early Sunday at Smithville Lake. Court documents say his body was found inside a park restroom with his ankles bound, a bag wired around his head and a ring finger partially severed. He died from a blow to the head.

The Clay County prosecutor’s office says Zachary Lisle is charged with murder, kidnapping, robbery and armed criminal action. His bond was set a $1 million. Online records do not indicate that he has an attorney.

The prosecutor’s office did not specify what charges the female might face.

Sunday 1/5/14(AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a man whose body was found at a western Missouri lake as a possible homicide.

The victim is believed to be 58-year-old Mark Thomas of Liberty. Clay County deputies found the body early Sunday in a park at Smithville Lake. Family members had reported Thomas missing, and his vehicle was found Saturday in a Kansas City trailer park.

Kansas City police say the cause of death has not been determined but that the case is being investigated as a homicide that likely occurred in Kansas City.

(AP) — Firefighters from several cities and towns have responded to a call from Syracuse, Nebraska to help battle a blaze at an old church.

The fire was reported a little after 6:30 p.m. Sunday, when some Boy Scouts entered the United Methodist Church for a meeting. Fire Chief Bruce Neemann says no one was injured.

The flames consumed a large section of the roof, and at least one church wall had collapsed. The fire cause is being investigated.

Syracuse is a city of more than 1,900 northwest of St. Joseph.

 (AP) — It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity, goes the old saying.

For the tens of millions of Americans currently trapped in the deep freeze: It’s not the cold, it’s the wind.

Air temperatures plunging into the negative teens, twenties and even thirties Sunday into Monday are bad enough. But add wind speeds of even a few miles per hour, and what’s already deeply unpleasant becomes downright dangerous.

Severely low wind chills are a serious threat to the body. Emergency room doctor Douglas Brunette from Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis says he’s “seen frostbite occur through clothing.” He says it’s important to have clothes “made for the elements.”

Winds are blowing arctic air across large swaths of the U.S. — with temperatures suppressed by what meteorologists call a “polar vortex.”

(AP) — Missouri has dropped the GED and made the switch to a new high school equivalency exam.

Beginning this month, Missouri began using HiSet, which Educational Testing Service is offering. The switch came with the introduction of a more costly computer-based version of the GED.

Even though the state went with the lowest bidder, the new exam will be more costly for some test takers.

Previously it cost $40 to take the GED once, with each retake costing another $40.

Missouri adult education official Tom Robbins says the most affordable way to take the HiSET is to pay $95 for the five-test battery. Participants get two free retests within a 12-month period. Out of that amount, $10 goes to the state to administer the program.

(AP) – An American Airlines flight has made an emergency landing at Kansas City International Airport after a flash drive was found in a bathroom.

Airport spokesman Joe McBride says the discovery was made Sunday afternoon as Flight 24 was headed from San Francisco International Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

McBride says the Boeing 767 was taken to an area away from the terminal and was being searched. The 227 passengers and crew members were evacuated. McBride says it is “a new day and age since 9-11” and that officials take precautions if something is deemed suspicious.