(AP) – The University of Missouri’s governing board has scheduled its second closed meeting in 10 days as the search for a new Columbia campus chancellor nears an end.

The Missouri Board of Curators was scheduled to meet in executive session Wednesday morning by phone. A similar meeting took place on the evening of Nov. 17, a Sunday.

State law allows such public entities to gather in private under certain conditions, including for discussions of personnel issues or pending lawsuits.

Missouri is looking to replace retired chancellor Brady Deaton, who stepped down earlier this month.

General counsel Steve Owens is interim chancellor pending a new hire by university system president Tim Wolfe. A campus search committee is vetting applicants and interviewing

(AP) – The president of the Missouri State Board of Education says the education commissioner’s review of a proposed initiative petition was nothing out of the ordinary.

Emails show Commissioner Chris Nicastro interacted with a group developing a ballot proposal that would end teacher tenure and require that student performance guide employment decisions.

Sen. Paul LeVota, of Independence, and House member Genise Montecillo, of St. Louis, released a joint statement Tuesday calling for Nicastro to step down. The two Democratic lawmakers’ statement specifically pointed to Nicastro’s handling of a cost estimate for the proposed ballot measure.

Missouri’s education commissioner is appointed by the state Board of Education. Board President Peter Herschend said Tuesday that department staff performed a routine consultation on the measure and Nicastro’s review was not out of the ordinary.

2 p.m.  Tuesday  (AP)  Two Missouri Democratic lawmakers are calling for state Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro to step down, saying she has demonstrated a tendency “to abuse power.”

Sen. Paul LeVota, of Independence, and House member Genise Montecillo, of St. Louis, said in a statement Tuesday the most recent example arose in recently disclosed emails from the education department dealing with a ballot measure to end teacher tenure and require that student performance guide employment decisions.

A Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spokeswoman didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

The State Board of Education appoints the education commissioner.

(AP) – The University of Missouri-Kansas City appointed Carla Wilson to be its full-time athletic director on Tuesday after she served on an interim basis for the past five months.

Wilson, whose appointment will become official on Monday, is the school’s first female athletic director. She’s also the first female AD in the history of the Western Athletic Conference.

The Kangaroos joined the league earlier this year.

Wilson will also be among a handful of minority women serving as athletic directors in the NCAA’s 351 Division I institutions. According to UMKC, fewer than 9 percent of ADs are women and fewer than 4 percent are minority women.

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) released the following statement today in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to take up the controversial Health and Human Services’ (HHS) health care mandate, which violates Americans’ religious freedoms:

“By failing to protect religious freedom, the Senate guaranteed that the courts
would have to act. I’m pleased the Supreme Court has decided to hear this
important case. The HHS mandate is an enormous government overreach and it violates Americans’ constitutional rights. Employers should not be forced to choose between giving up their business for their faith or giving up their faith for their business.”

Today’s Supreme Court decision comes after new polling showed 59% of
Americans oppose the mandate requiring religious individuals, faith-based
institutions, and businesses cover services that violate their deeply-held
religious beliefs.

(AP) A Jefferson City man has sentenced to die for the 2009 killing of a woman with whom he had a relationship while she was separated from her husband, who was also shot to death.
Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce agreed with a jury’s recommendation in imposing the sentence Tuesday on 58-year-old David Hosier.

Hosier addressed the court for about 10 minutes, denying he shot Angela Gilpin and claiming the real killer remains at large.

Angela and Ronald Gilpin were found dead in September 2009 at Angela’s Jefferson City apartment. Prosecutors said Angela Gilpin had an affair with Hosier while separated from her husband, but the Gilpins were trying to reconcile.
Hosier was charged in both killings, but the status of the case in Ronald’s death is unclear.

(AP) – The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s constitutional ban on retrospective application of new laws does not apply to criminal statutes.

Tuesday’s decision came in the case of a southwest Missouri man accused of illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. A trial court dismissed the charge, finding that the felony conviction occurred before legislators broadened the statute making it illegal for convicted felons to possess guns.

The Supreme Court reinstated the charge Tuesday, making clear that the ban on retrospective application of new laws applies only to civil rights and remedies. The issue of retrospective laws in criminal cases has arisen previously in cases before the court, including several involving sex offenders.

The ruling sent the case back to Greene County Circuit Court.

(AP) – A man who has performed as the Kansas City Chiefs’ mascot for more than two decades is in stable condition after a weekend accident at Arrowhead Stadium. His attorney said Monday the injuries appear to have been caused by human error.

Dan Meers has played KC Wolf since the mascot’s inception in 1989. He was seriously injured Saturday while rehearsing a zip line routine ahead of Sunday’s game against the San Diego Chargers. No details about the injury have been released.

Attorney Tim Dollar says Meers’ injuries appear to have been caused from how an outside company secured the riggings. He says an investigation is pending.

According to the website mascothalloffame.com, Meers previously performed as Fredbird, the St. Louis Cardinals’ mascot, and the University of Missouri’s mascot Truman the Tiger.

(AP) — A former Kansas City, Kan., assistant property manager accused of stealing federal housing funds faces more than four years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said in a release that 28-year-old Mary Amador was sentenced Monday to four and a half years in prison and ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution.

She pleaded guilty earlier to charges including theft of public money, aggravated identity theft and making false statements.

Federal prosecutors say several residents of the apartment Amador helped manage were in the U.S. unlawfully, and that Amador took bribes from those residents in exchange for accepting counterfeit citizenship documents. Prosecutors say she also falsely reported to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that the tenants were eligible to receive Section 8 housing subsidies.

(AP) – Charges have been filed against a southwest Missouri man accused of pulling out a gun and threatening staff at a Springfield school.

26-year-old Brad L. White of Republic was charged Sunday with unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon, along with two misdemeanors. Online court records don’t list a lawyer for White, who’s being held in the Greene County jail on $30,000 bond.

A probable cause statement says White went to the Christian Schools of Springfield on Saturday, Nov. 9, and punched an employee before pulling out the gun and threatening staff. The statement says he left in a vehicle.

Court documents say police couldn’t locate White at the time, but found him Saturday and arrested him after a struggle.