(AP) A large swath of southern Missouri is working to dig out from a storm that has coated the region with a mix of snow, ice and sleet.

The National Service says that from Thursday to Friday, 6 to 12 inches of snow fell in areas of the state south of Interstate 44, with some of the heaviest accumulations recorded near the Missouri-Arkansas border.

Although a wind chill advisory covering much of the southern half of the state was allowed to expire mid-morning Saturday, temperatures remain well below average.

(AP)  A physician credited as the father of osteopathic medicine and a noted science fiction writer have won induction into the state Capitol’s Hall of Famous Missourians. Joining them as the newest inductees are a suffragist and the catalyst of a citizens’ initiative that limited state revenues and local taxes.

The hall is a collection of bronze busts that generally has honored people chosen by the House speaker. However, half the new honorees this time were selected through a public nomination and voting process. The four inductees were identified to The Associated Press by House Speaker Tim Jones before they were publicly announced.

Busts of the people in the hall are privately funded and displayed between the House and Senate chambers. Among those already included are President Harry Truman, Walt Disney, Mark Twain, George Washington Carver, Betty Grable and Ginger Rogers.

The use of a public vote for some of the inductions comes after acrimony following last year’s selection by a different House speaker of commentator Rush Limbaugh. That choice was criticized by Democrats, some women’s groups and other political foes.

Still received the most public support, claiming nearly 38 percent of more than 34,000 votes cast. He was born in Virginia and elected to the Kansas territorial Legislature. After the deaths of several children and serving as a Civil War doctor, Still looked for new medical methods. In 1892, he founded the American School of Osteopathy in Kirksville, according to the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine. It now is called A.T. Still University.

“Dr. Still revolutionized medicine as we know it today,” said Brad Bates, a lobbyist for the Missouri Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons.

The public also opted for science fiction writer Heinlein. He was born in Butler, and his works include “Starship Troopers,” “Stranger in a Strange Land,” and “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.” Heinlein received more than 10,000 votes.

Still and Heinlein combined to receive nearly 70 percent of the votes.

The speaker’s selections for the Hall of Famous Missourians left their marks in the political arena.

Minor in 1867 helped found the Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri, which was the first organization that made enfranchising women its exclusive goal. Minor tried to register to vote in October 1872 but was refused because of her gender. Through her husband Francis Minor, she filed suit and argued the 14th Amendment allowed women to vote. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against her.

The suffragist finished sixth in the public vote for the Hall of Famous Missourians, and Jones said he decided to include Minor because of her importance to Missouri and U.S. history.

The speaker’s other selection, Hancock, won approval for a measure establishing a state revenue limit, barring state government from imposing unfunded mandates on local governments and requiring voter approval for local tax increases. It helped propel him to a seat in Congress where he served four terms and built a reputation as a fiscal and social conservative.

Jones said Hancock had been on his mind the longest as a candidate for induction.

“The minute I was elected speaker back in September of last year, I had folks approaching me about Mel Hancock saying he should have been put in the hall by now,” Jones said.

1:20 p.m. An investigation into the early morning shooting by a Missouri State Trooper continues.

A media release from the Missouri Highway Patrol said at 3 a.m., a state trooper saw a man walking in the middle of Noland Road at I-70.

The trooper asked the man what was in the bag he was carrying, the man said “drugs.”

In addition, the man indicated he was carrying a 9 millimeter gun and then stuck his hands in his waistband as if he was trying to get the gun.

The trooper then fired shots, killing the man, because he feared for his life.

Authorities say their investigation has determined that prior to the shooting, Williford was in a nearby Quik Trip and told the store clerk that he was going to rob the business before leaving.

10: 30 a.m.  An investigation is underway Saturday after a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper shot and killed a man on I-70 near Independence overnight.

According to Police, the suspect, approached by the State Trooper, reportedly indicated he was carrying a gun.

The Interchange at Noland Road was shut down until just before 6 a.m.  Few additional details are available. Stay tuned to Eagle Radio and Check St. Joseph Post for more information.

(AP) — Federal health officials began quietly urging counselors around the country this week to stop using paper applications to enroll people in insurance under the health overhaul because of concerns those applications would not be processed in time.

They’d previously encouraged alternate sign-up methods amid the fumbled rollout of their online insurance website.

Enrollment counselors operating in several states, insurance brokers and a government official who works with navigators in Illinois say in interviews this week that federal officials are now encouraging them not to use paper applications.

Consumers must sign up for health insurance by Dec. 23 in order for coverage to start in January. Federal health officials now say paper applications should be a method of last resort.

Instead, they want consumers to complete applications online or by phone.

(AP) A dangerous mix of snow, ice and sleet hammered southern Missouri for a second straight day on Friday, causing numerous accidents, including a wreck that killed a small-town mayor.

Missouri was among many states under winter storm and ice warnings, the result of a system that dumped up to 2 feet of snow in parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin and caused major ice concerns in the South.

Granby Mayor Ronald Arnall, 64, died Thursday afternoon when his truck ran off Highway 39 and struck a tree. Arnall was a longtime city councilman who was elected mayor of Granby, a community of 2,100 residents in far southwest Missouri, in April, city clerk Paula Carsel said.

“He grew up here and he cared about Granby,” Carsel said. “It’s kind of a shock.”

Capt. Tim Hull of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said the accident was the only one involving a fatality, but he cited numerous wrecks south of St. Louis and across the southern tier of the state, most of them cars and trucks sliding off the roadway.

“There’s just not much traction you can get on ice,” Hull said. “When you’ve got a little bit of sleet mixed in, it’s hard to stop and get control.”

In suburban St. Louis, a car slid down an icy hill and past a crossing gate, striking a MetroLink light rail train filled with morning commuters. Eight passengers were taken to hospitals for treatment of what appeared to be minor injuries, St. Louis County Police said. The car driver was not hurt.

National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Shanklin in Paducah, Ky., said the Bootheel region in far southeast Missouri was getting the worst of the ice. Some areas of the Bootheel had ice nearly a quarter-inch thick, causing tree limbs to snap and power lines to sag. Few outages were reported by Friday morning but with more ice possible, Shanklin said there was concern that power lines could start to break.

The utility company Ameren Missouri sent 500 workers to southeast Missouri in anticipation of storm problems. By late-afternoon Friday, Ameren reported fewer than 1,000 outages, mostly in the Bootheel region.

Shanklin said there were reports of 10 inches of snow by Friday morning in parts of Perry and Bollinger counties in southeast Missouri. Areas closer to Springfield in the southwest part of the states had 4-6 inches of snow.

Cape Girardeau was expected to see an additional 6 inches of snow on Friday; snowfall projections were lower to the west, but Springfield was expected to see another inch or two.

Every major highway and interstate in southern Missouri was covered or partly covered with snow or other precipitation, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Shanklin said that after a brief reprieve, more wintery precipitation should start to fall across much of the same region Saturday night through Sunday _ maybe even more ice in the southeast corner of Missouri.

“The next system doesn’t have the amount of precipitation as this system _ that’s one silver lining,” Shanklin said. “But there will be enough to cause more problems.”

 (AP) — Gilead Sciences Inc. says the federal government has approved its highly anticipated hepatitis C drug that is expected to offer a faster cure to millions of people infected with the liver-destroying virus.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the pill Sovaldi as a daily treatment in combination with older drugs to treat the major forms of hepatitis C.

Current treatments for hepatitis C can take up to a year of therapy and only cure three out of four patients. Sovaldi is a daily pill that cures roughly 90 percent of patients in just 12 weeks, according to company studies.

The approval comes as the federal government urges baby boomers to get tested for the disease. Hepatitis C is five times more common among people born between 1945 and 1965.

(AP) – A southern Missouri church youth leader has been ordered to spend 10 years in federal prison for child sex charges.

U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson says 23-year-old Brent “Pete” Turley, of Ava, was sentenced Friday.

Turley was arrested in March 2012 at a park where he had arranged to meet with an undercover officer. The officer was using the phone of a child whose parents had contacted authorities.

Prosecutors said Turley sent sexually explicit text messages to a 14-year-old. He also admitted to law enforcement that he engaged in illicit sexual activity with a 15-year-old in a vehicle and with another 14-year-old victim during a movie.

(AP) A former federal agent has pleaded guilty in Missouri to lying to the FBI about an $800,000 mortgage fraud scheme.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says 48-year-old Jeffrey Morriss, of Kansas City, entered the plea Friday in federal court. Prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of three years’ probation and nearly $13,000 in restitution.

 Morriss was a special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

Prosecutors said he lied about his income, child support obligations and other issues on four home loan applications for three houses between August 2007 and March 2012. He obtained $812,000 in home loans but failed to make full payments on them, resulting in three defaults and foreclosures.

In his plea, Morriss admitted lying to FBI agents during an interview about the loan applications.

(AP) – Missouri’s low-income housing commission has delayed the approval of millions of dollars of tax credits — apparently as an outgrowth of the negotiations over incentives for Boeing Co.

The Missouri Housing Development Commission voted 6-1 Friday to postpone a decision on about $14 million in tax credits until next March.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who is a member of the commission, said Gov. Jay Nixon’s chief of staff requested the delay.

Kinder said Nixon’s staffer told the commission the governor had agreed with several senators to slow down the issuance of other tax credits in exchange for them not blocking legislation authorizing tax breaks for Boeing to assemble planes in St. Louis.

The housing tax-credit vote came shortly after the House gave final approval Friday to the Boeing incentives.