Hearings about the problems with the federal government’s new health insurance website — HealthCare.gov — began Thursday morning when the House Energy & Commerce Committee hears from companies that designed the troubled sign-up site.

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Authorities say a southwest Missouri woman hired two men to help her in a bungled attempt to kidnap her 1-year-old daughter.

Twenty-seven-year-old Elise D. Deboutez of Nevada was charged Wednesday in Jasper County Circuit Court with first-degree burglary and armed criminal action.  She’s accused of recruiting 21-year-old Ron N. King of Joplin and another man.

The child’s father told police he was in a bedroom with his daughter Saturday night when he heard someone and shut the door. He heard shots fired before the suspects fled without the girl.

A probable cause statement says Deboutez and King confessed to the plot.

(AP) — The Missouri Hospital Association says there has been a decline in the number of hospital admissions for preventable issues.

The association says that between 2003 and 2013 the number of preventable hospital admissions fell 18.8 percent.

Preventable hospitalizations are defined as conditions for which good outpatient care could potentially have avoided the need for hospital care. The definition also includes conditions for which early intervention could have prevented complications.

Despite the overall improvement, the hospital association says there were several conditions for which Missouri saw an increase in preventable hospital admissions. Those include hypertension, short-term complications from diabetes, asthma in young adults and urinary tract infections.

Thursday 6 a.m.  (AP) — Utility officials and an environmental group disagree about the effect of a Springfield fly-ash release.

The City Utilities spokesperson says the cloud of ash that billowed over part of a Springfield on Tuesday posed no threat to residents or the environment. But Sierra Club state chapter director John Hickey says the utility “has exposed people to a dangerous pollutant.”

While the ash is made mainly of silica, it also contains trace amounts of arsenic, lead and mercury.

The ash is a byproduct of burning coal and normally is captured in a scrubber system. City Utilities says a malfunction allowed the ash to be emitted from the John Twitty Energy Center. The powdery substance coated cars, homes and lawns as far as three miles away.

(AP) — A power plant malfunction has caused fly-ash to billow over part of Springfield.

City Utilities spokesman Joel Alexander says the ash is normally captured in a scrubber system. But the malfunction allowed the ash to be emitted through the top of a stack at the John Twitty Energy Center and into the atmosphere.

The emission lasted nearly 40 minutes, leaving cars and houses coated with ash. Alexander says the equipment was repaired, and the power plant is operating normally again.

The malfunction was reported to the Department of Natural Resources. Alexander says the utility continues to investigate. The amount of fly-ash that was released hasn’t yet been determined.

The utility is offering free car washes to people whose vehicles were parked in affected areas.

AP) — A new study suggests that a nutritional rating system using gold stars affixed to price labels on grocery store shelves may be helping consumers buy healthier food.

The study by researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the University of Florida suggests that the star system in Maine-based Hannaford stores steered shoppers toward more nutritious food, potentially providing another tool to educate consumers and battle obesity.

It’s the most rigorous scientific studying focusing on Guiding Stars, which was instituted in 2006 in Hannaford stores and is now licensed for use in more than 1,800 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

It’s one of several nutritional rating systems. Food and Drug Administration officials have proposed front-of-package labels but those are still in the works.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack met with farmers and others in Kansas City on Wednesday. He spoke about the importance of getting Congress to act on a new Farm Bill. He admitted that the lack of agreement on the issue has an impact on many areas of the nation’s economy.

House and Senate conference committee members are set to begin work on trying to pass a new Farm Bill. If they can’t come to an agreement, the law will revert to the farm law from the 1940s.

Crop insurance was another hot topic during Vilsack’s visit. Farmers told of the challenges they’ve faced because of the recent drought.

(AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon says he plans a “significant down payment” toward his goal of fully funding the state’s school funding formula.

The Democratic governor told a gathering of public school leaders Wednesday he’s working to fund the K-12 school formula by the time he leaves office in January 2017.

The current year’s budget provides almost $3.1 billion in basic aid to elementary and secondary schools. State officials project the current funding level would be $556 million short of the target for next year’s budget.

Nixon also said he wants to expand access to early childhood education and will continue implementing accountability measures such as the Common Core education standards.