(AP) Allen Nicklasson once recalled the “euphoria” he felt after fatally shooting a kindly businessman who stopped to help when he saw Nicklasson’s car stalled on Interstate 70 near Kingdom City, Mo., in 1994.

Late Wednesday night, Nicklasson was put to death for Richard Drummond’s killing _ nearly 23 hours after he was originally scheduled to die. It was the second execution in Missouri in three weeks after a nearly three-year hiatus. Racist serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin was executed Nov. 20.

The executions also were the first since Missouri switched from a three-drug protocol to use of a single drug, pentobarbital.

Nicklasson, 41, was pronounced dead at 10:52 p.m. Wednesday, eight minutes after the process began. His eyes remained closed throughout and he showed little reaction to the drug, briefly breathing heavily about 2 minutes into the process. He offered no final words.

Missouri Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike O’Connell said Nicklasson prayed briefly with the prison chaplain about 20 minutes before the execution. No one from his family or the victim’s family attended.

The execution was the end of a life troubled almost from the start. Nicklasson grew up in Kansas City, Mo., in a fatherless home. His mother was a mentally ill stripper who brought home an assortment of men, many of whom abused her son. Nicklasson died bearing the scar from where one of the men burned him.

Nicklasson declined interviews in the days leading up to his execution. But in a 2009 interview with The Associated Press, he recalled the trauma of his childhood _ eating Alpo dog food for dinner, watching his mother shoot up heroin. She once made him fight a Doberman for money, he recalled. Then, there was the constant torrent of abuse from his mother’s male friends.

Nicklasson suffered from bipolar disorder and lived on and off in boys’ homes for his petty crimes and institutions for his mental illness.

By his 20s, Nicklasson was homeless and a drug addict. While in rehab in 1994, he crossed paths with Dennis Skillicorn, who had been recently released from prison following a second-degree murder conviction for killing a man during a robbery.

The two and a third man, Tim DeGraffenreid, decided in August 1994 to make the trip from Kansas City across I-70 to St. Louis to buy drugs. On the way back, their rundown 1983 Chevrolet Caprice started sputtering. It broke down near Kingdom City, about 100 miles west of St. Louis, and they took it to the shop.

They used the down time to burglarize a home, stealing money and guns. Though warned the car was unfixable, the men got back on the road.

The car soon broke down again. Drummond, a 47-year-old Excelsior Springs, Mo., man who was a technical support supervisor for AT&T, saw the three men and their stranded car. He decided to stop and help.

The men loaded their stolen goods in the trunk of Drummond’s Dodge Intrepid. Then Nicklasson put a gun to his head and told him to drive west.

Along the way, there was some debate between Nicklasson and Skillicorn about what to do with Drummond. Ultimately, they ordered him off the highway and to a secluded area in Lafayette County in western Missouri.

In the 2009 interview, Nicklasson recalled how he left the other two behind and walked Drummond to a wooded area. He said he had intended to tie him up to buy time for the trio to get away.

He changed his mind, ordering Drummond to kneel and cross his legs. Then he shot him twice in the head.

“I’m laughing, pacing,” Nicklasson said, recalling the moment. “I started losing it. I wouldn’t want this out, but I felt a euphoria. I finally got back for all the beatings I took” as a child.

Nicklasson and Skillicorn stole Drummond’s car and drove to Arizona. When the vehicle broke down in the desert, they approached the home of Joseph and Charlene Babcock. Nicklasson killed Joseph Babcock after the man drove them back to their vehicle. Charlene Babcock was killed at the couple’s home.

Both Nicklasson and Skillicorn were sentenced to life in prison for the Arizona killings and also sentenced to death in Missouri for Drummond’s death. Skillicorn was executed in 2009 even though Nicklasson took sole responsibility for killing Drummond.

DeGraffenreid pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and did not receive a death sentence.

Nicklasson’s execution was originally scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. But an appeals court panel granted a stay of execution Monday, citing concerns about his counsel at trial and sentencing in 1996.

When the full appeals court refused to take up the case Tuesday, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It did not return its 5-4 decision to vacate the stay until 10:07 p.m. Wednesday, with Justices Ruth Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissenting. Gov. Jay Nixon refused to grant clemency.

Missouri previously used a three-drug method for executions but changed protocols after drugmakers stopped selling the lethal drugs to prisons and corrections departments. The pentobarbital used in Missouri executions comes from an undisclosed compounding pharmacy _ the Missouri Department of Corrections declines to say who makes the drug, or where.

11 p.m.  Wednesday   (AP) – The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with Missouri in its bid to execute a Kansas City man condemned for the killing of a good Samaritan.

The Supreme Court announced its decision late Wednesday night.

Corrections officials moved to prepare for the execution of Allen Nicklasson, convicted of shooting a man who stopped to help him and two friends who were stranded on the side of a Missouri highway in 1994.

Nicklasson had been scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. But an appeals court stopped the execution over concerns about Nicklasson’s legal representation. The state then appealed to the high court.

Missouri uses the sedative pentobarbital to execute inmates. It used the drug for the first time in last month’s execution of serial killer Joseph Franklin.

(AP) — A new report says sales of farm equipment remained strong in November.

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers reported Tuesday that U.S. farmers bought 10,925 tractors last month for an increase of almost 6 percent compared to the same month a year ago. Some 644 combines were also sold for a 25 percent jump for November.

Retail sales figures released by the industry group show that for the first 11 months of this year, U.S. producers bought some 167,431 farm tractors, an increase of nearly 10 percent over the same period last year. Some 9,487 combines were also sold for an increase of almost 7 percent.

(AP) — A 67-year-old suburban Kansas City man has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to buying $1.8 million in contraband cigarettes.

The U.S. Attorney’s office for western Missouri said in a release Wednesday that Randall H. McColley of Overland Park, Kan., waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic in contraband cigarettes.

The prosecutor’s office says McColley admitted that he bought contraband cigarettes from undercover agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The undercover agents sold him more than 100,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes between May 2011 and February 2012.

The prosecutor’s office says the cigarette packages did not bear the tax stamps required by federal and state laws.

McColley faces up to five years in prison.

U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Chris Coons (Del.), co-chairs of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus, and U.S. Senators Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) introduced bipartisan legislation Tuesday to reauthorize the “Victims of Child Abuse Act” (VOCAA), which provides funding for Children’s Advocacy Centers that serve child victims of violent crimes and help law enforcement hold perpetrators accountable.

Though the success of these federal-state and public-private partnerships have earned them broad bipartisan support, Congressional authorization for Children’s Advocacy Centers lapsed in 2005, and most recently the President’s proposed budgets for 2013 and 2014 have zeroed out federal funding. The VOCAA Reauthorization Act of 2013 would restore funding for Children’s Advocacy Centers and strengthen oversight of this critical program.

“There are 22 Child Advocacy Centers located in Missouri, which serve around 7,000 of our state’s most vulnerable children each year by coordinating the investigation, treatment, and prosecution of child abuse cases,” Blunt said. “This bill allows Child Advocacy Centers in Missouri and across the country to continue to provide a safe haven for child abuse victims and helps law enforcement hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.”

3:30 p.m. (AP) Gov. Jay Nixon wants Missouri’s universities to freeze undergraduate tuition next year while also proposing more state funding.

The governor says the budget he recommends next year will include an additional $36.7 million for public universities. The 5 percent funding increase would be distributed using a performance-based funding system.

The governor called for a tuition freeze at four-year schools for Missouri undergraduates in the 2014-2015 academic year.

Previously, Missouri higher education institutions and Nixon reached an agreement to freeze tuition for the 2009-2010. The next year, public colleges and universities struck a deal to hold undergraduate tuition flat to avert deeper state funding cuts.

(AP) – Gov. Jay Nixon plans to discuss college affordability and funding for higher education.

The governor told higher education officials in October he would propose a significant funding boost for colleges and universities but did not specify the amount he would recommend for next year’s budget.

Nixon was traveling Wednesday to Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau and to Missouri State University in Springfield.

In November, Nixon proposed an additional $5,000 annually through the merit-based Bright Flight scholarship for students who agree to work-full time in Missouri immediately after graduation.

(AP) – A group of eight Missouri lawmakers are calling upon Missouri’s governor and attorney general to investigate concerns raised about Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro.

The lawmakers made the request Wednesday after published reports said that newly disclosed emails raised questions about the selection of CEE-Trust as a consultant. The Indianapolis-based firm’s bid for developing an improvement plan for the Kansas City district and other struggling schools was nearly three times higher than the closest competitor.

The emails also highlighted some of Nicastro’s behind-the-scenes work to create a special district that would operate some of the state’s lowest-performing schools.

The lawmakers say the emails raise concerns about Nicastro’s “fitness to lead.”

Nicastro says the focus should be on ensuring that children “have the quality schools they deserve.”

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill is encouraging Missourians who are members of the National Guard or Reserves to nominate exemplary employers for an award that recognizes their support and commitment to their employees serving the nation as members of the Guard and Reserves.

The Department of Defense sponsors the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award as part of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) program. Nominations for the department’s highest recognition for civilian employers who have supported Guard and Reserve members are open to all employers-large, small, private and public-for only a short time longer.

“This award gives us a chance to highlight some of the outstanding employers in Missouri that are going above and beyond to support the men and women who sacrifice so much for our country,” said McCaskill, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and daughter of a World War II veteran. “This serves as a great reminder that we should all be doing everything we can to support our nation’s heroes who give up so much to protect our freedom.”

McCaskill has been a strong advocate for the ESGR program as a means to support the service of members of the Guard and Reserves. McCaskill previously arranged a statewide conference call with ESGR representatives, the Missouri National Guard, and employers in Missouri to help find solutions and identify ways to give our Guardsman and Reservists more support.

Guard and Reserve members, or a family member acting on their behalf, may nominate their employers at www.FreedomAward.mil. The deadline to nominate is January 20, 2014.

(AP) — New research says tens of thousands of women each year might be able to skip at least some of the grueling treatments for breast cancer without greatly harming their odds of survival.

The research is aimed at curbing overtreatment, a big problem in cancer care.

Breast cancer treatments include surgery, radiation, heavy chemo, hormones or some combination.

But those can be expensive and traumatic and can cause lifelong problems such as arm swelling, heart troubles and even new cancers.

One of the new studies suggests that many women 65 and older can skip radiation after surgery for early-stage tumors.