A former library director has left an $8 million gift to Livingston County Library in Chillicothe.

The memorial gift from Lillian DesMarias will be used to establish the Livingston County Library Charitable Trust. Funds from the trust will support library services and programs the county cannot afford to fund.

The bequest is the combination of the sisters’ trust.

(AP) – Flags across Missouri are at half-staff as mourners prepare to honor former Missouri congressman Ike Skelton.

Skelton’s funeral is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Monday at Wikoff Hall on the Wentworth campus in Skelton’s hometown of Lexington. He will be buried with military rites at the Machpelah Cemetery in Lexington.

Skelton, a Democrat, died last Monday of complications from pneumonia. He was 81.

Gov. Jay Nixon ordered flags to be flown at half-staff Monday to honor Skelton, who served in the U.S. House for 34 years before losing a re-election bid in 2010 to Republican Vicky Hartzler in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District. After his defeat, he practiced law in Missouri and Washington, D.C.

USDA says a task force established by President Obama Friday will assist agricultural communities facing the impacts of climate change.
The Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience will advise the Federal Government on strategies to help American agriculture mitigate and adapt to the impacts of a changing climate.

Robert Bonnie, Under Secretary, Natural Resources and Environment, says the task force is an important step in our shared effort to respond to climate change.
“America’s farmers, ranchers and landowners have long been tremendous stewards of our environment. At USDA, we have worked with a record number of producers and landowners over the course of the Obama Administration to help conserve the soil and water, and clean our air,” Bonnie said.

USDA expects the task force to help America’s farmers and ranchers adapt to changing climate conditions.
Bonnie says the USDA programs will help farmers and ranchers counter the impacts of climate change and help create modern practices for producers to capitalize on their good stewardship.
The latest Drought Monitor by the USDA shows nearly one-fourth of the Midwest and 22 percent of the High Plains are in moderate or worse with the percentage of corn and soybean crops growing in drought down from a month earlier. Rainfall across many drought-affected regions of the country in recent day are expected to show improving conditions.

As part of the broader Climate Action Plan, the USDA announced steps in June to create modern solutions against climate adversity. In addition to regional sources on climate information and forecasts, the USDA created the “Carbon Management and Evaluation Tool” (COMET-FARM), showing farmers how much carbon their land removes from the atmosphere.  -Brett Wessler, Drovers Cattle Network

(AP) — Jackson County voters are being asked to approve a half-cent sales tax to pay for medical research at two Kansas City hospitals and the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s health professional schools.

Approval of Tuesday’s ballot measure would raise $800 million over the tax’s 20-year duration to fund research in translational medicine, which uses basic research to create new treatments and cures. Supporters say the funding could help establish Kansas City as a national medical research hub.

Opponents, such as the League of Women Voters and Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, call the sales tax regressive and say it puts the burden to fund a national research program on the backs of low- and middle-class residents who can least afford it.

(AP) – Independence police are investigating a home invasion that left one intruder in the hospital.

Police say two suspects forced their way into a home Saturday night and assaulted two men who lived there.

One of the victims was able to get his shotgun and shoot one suspect in the abdomen.

The injured suspect remains in the hospital Monday morning.

The second suspect fled and has not been found. He is described as being in his 30s, between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-10 with a skinny build.

The residents of the home were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

(AP) — Investigators are trying to determine what caused a fire that killed a 70-year-old man during the weekend.

Burden Fire Captain Dan McClaskey says three people were inside a home seven miles east of Winfield when the fire started early Sunday.

A woman and her grandson were able to escape but the 70-year-old grandfather died later after being pulled from the house.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. McClaskey says he thinks it started around a space heater.

(AP) – Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is giving state employees an extra day off around Thanksgiving.

State offices are closed by law on Thanksgiving. Nixon has issued an executive order also closing state offices the Friday after Thanksgiving.

For many years, a four-day holiday weekend was the norm in Missouri government.

But Nixon kept state offices open on the Friday after Thanksgiving in 2010 and 2011, citing budget concerns.

Holidays have cost the state money because some employees who must work – such as prison guards – have been able to choose whether to claim extra time off or accept holiday bonus pay.

Nixon says the budget has improved enough to give employees the extra day off. He also extended the Thanksgiving break last year.

Clay County voters will decide Tuesday if they want to restructure their county government.

The ballot proposal would convert the three-member County Commission into a seven-member council, turn several elected offices into appointed positions and make all county elections nonpartisan.

Supporters says the change will make county government more efficient and eliminate possible corruption.

Opponents say the proposal is illegal and misleading and would leave the county without a functioning government during a six-month transition. Supporters deny that claim.

A southwest Missouri town has won a national monthlong contest for sales of the 55-cent breast cancer stamp.

Carl Junction Postmaster Sharon Clark learned recently that Carl Junction had won the contest.

The stamp was first issued in 1998. As of October 2012, the stamp had raised more than $76 million for breast cancer research.

As a breast cancer survivor, Clark has a personal stake in the contest, but she credits the community for achieving the national No. 1 ranking.