KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — Tourists who fly to Colorado to try legal pot can forget about buying souvenir boxer shorts, socks or sandals with a marijuana leaf on them at the Denver airport.

The airport has banned pot-themed souvenirs, fearing the kitsch could taint the state’s image.

Marijuana possession and any pot-related advertising were already forbidden. Airport executives extended the ban this month after a retailer sought a kiosk to sell the boxer shorts and similar items that played off Colorado’s place as the first state to allow recreational marijuana sales.

Ann Jordan is owner of High-ly Legal Colorado, which makes the souvenirs.

She asked why airport officials were “so riled up about the picture of a plant,” and she noted that the airport has an exhibit celebrating another adult product, Colorado craft beer.

ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is ordering immigration agents to ask immigrants they encounter living in the country illegally whether they might qualify under President Barack Obama’s plans to avoid deporting them.

Internal training materials obtained by The Associated Press also show that agents are being told to review government files to identify any jailed immigrants they might be able to release under the program.

The directives from the Homeland Security Department mark an unusual change for U.S. immigration enforcement. They place the obligation on the government for identifying immigrants who might qualify for lenient treatment.

It’s like the Internal Revenue Service calling taxpayers to recommend that they should have used certain exemptions or deductions.

TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) — Toyota is recalling 52,000 Avalon sedans because of a wiring problem that could cause a fire.

The recall affects Avalons from the 2011 and 2012 model years.

Toyota says cargo in the trunk could move the wires connected to the audio system subwoofer. If the wires contact the metal frame of the subwoofer, they could short circuit and cause the subwoofer to overheat. That increases the risk of a fire.

Toyota says no injuries or fires have been linked to the problem, but it has received two reports of overheating.

Toyota will notify owners, who can get their vehicles repaired for free at dealerships. Dealers will disconnect the subwoofer until a repair is available.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House is putting an end to committee meetings at country clubs and restaurants.
House Speaker John Diehl said Wednesday that, effective immediately, all House committee meetings will be held at the Capitol.
That decision comes a day after the House Telecommunications Committee held a meeting at the Jefferson City Country Club, where lawmakers heard a presentation and ate a meal provided by the Missouri Telecommunications Industry Association.
A similar meeting of the House Utility Infrastructure Committee was scheduled for Wednesday evening at the country club.
But Diehl said that meeting would instead be held at the Capitol, without a lobbyist-supplied meal.
The change comes after criticism from some lawmakers and interest groups about lobbyist funding of off-site meetings.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced in a media release that a Mexican national was sentenced in federal court on Tuesday for his role in the conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and for illegally reentering the United States after having been deported.

Bardomiano Jungo, 36, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to 10 years and one month in federal prison without parole.

A law enforcement officer encountered co-defendant Jose Angel Loaiza, 27, of Lamirada, Calif., at the Greyhound bus station at 1101 Troost Ave., Kansas City, Mo., on March 26, 2013. Loaiza was carrying three bundles containing a total of approximately 1.4 kilograms of pure methamphetamine inside a red backpack. While the officer was speaking to him, Loaiza’s cell phone rang and he answered in Spanish, “I’m here.”

The officer who arrested Loaiza told the other officers that someone was probably waiting in the parking lot to pick up Loaiza. Officers saw Jungo waiting in a Ford Explorer, then start to drive out of the parking lot without picking anyone up. An officer stopped Jungo and began to question him; Jungo’s cell phone rang and displayed the same Long Beach, Calif., telephone number that had called Loaiza a few minutes earlier.

Jungo identified himself under a false name and showed law enforcement officers a Kansas driver’s license and Social Security card with that name. That Social Security number, however, belongs to an Inglewood, Calif., resident.

After being convicted in Jackson County Circuit Court of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, Jungo was deported from the United States on March 20, 2002. Jungo admitted that he was illegally in the United States.

Loaiza was sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison without parole after pleading guilty to his role in the conspiracy.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Davids and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General.

KANSAS CITY – Three men have been sentenced in a scheme that used homeless men to cash counterfeit payroll checks in the Kansas City area.

Federal prosecutors say more than $400,000 in counterfeit checks were cashed in the region in late 2012 and early 2013, as part of a scheme that used homeless people to cash more than $8 million in counterfeit checks across the country.

Forty-eight-year-old Truly Matthews and 47-year-old Calvin Almond, both of Atlanta, and 55-year-old Gary Merritt, of Kansas City, Kansas, were sentenced Monday. Matthews was sentenced to 10 years and four months in federal prison without parole and must pay $62,861 in restitution; Merritt got five years and $239,092 in restitution; and Almond was sentenced to two years and 11 months and $57,772 in restitution.

JEFFERSON CITY – A judge has sentenced a former Boy Scouts leader in Missouri to 20 years in prison following his conviction in a child pornography case.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports 25-year-old Ian Burow pleaded guilty in February to seven counts of receiving and distributing explicit material involving a minor. He also pleaded guilty to one count of production of sexually explicit material involving a minor.

Prosecutors say he pretended to be a woman on the Internet to trick teenage boys into sending him photos of themselves. Authorities say Burow knew several of the boys from his time as a Scout leader and as a volunteer.

U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes also ordered Burow to be under supervised release for the rest of his life after he serves his sentence.

JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s largest prepaid mobile provider, TracFone, will pay $40 million to settle government claims that it misled smartphone customers with promises of unlimited data service.

The Federal Trade Commission says TracFone promised unlimited data in its advertising, but then drastically slowed or even cut off consumers’ mobile data after they hit a certain limit.

TracFone’s prepaid wireless service is sold under various brands, including Straight Talk, Net10, Simple Mobile and Telcel America.

Consumers with phones operated by TracFone who had their service slowed or cut will be able to request a refund.

The commission sued AT&T late last year over the same issue — promising unlimited data but then allegedly slowing or throttling a consumer’s Web browsing after a certain amount of data was used.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Columbia police officer who was fired after injuring a prisoner won a court ruling but will have to wait to see if he will be reinstated.
Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce ruled last week in favor of Rob Sanders, who was fired in 2011 after he shoved a prisoner in a holding cell.

He was later cleared by an internal investigation and acquitted after a trial for misdemeanor assault. Sanders sued the city when he was not reinstated.

Joyce found for Sanders and asked his attorney to file a proposed order, but have no specific details in her ruling.
City attorney John Landwehr said he would appeal the ruling.
The inmate Sanders injured suffered a fractured vertebra. The city paid him $250,000 to settle a lawsuit.