(AP) — Construction on the first phase of a proposed housing campus for homeless and at-risk veterans in Kansas City is underway.

Groundbreaking was held Wednesday for the St. Michael’s Veterans Campus, a 22-acre development in east Kansas City, which will provide housing and services for the veterans.

The project will be built in three phases. When it was unveiled in 2012, developers estimated it would cost about $34 million.

The first phase includes building 58 one-bedroom affordable housing units. Plans are to eventually build 180 housing units, a center offering counseling, job training and case management resources, a garden, and a recreational building.

U.S. Bank has arranged more than $17.7 million in financing for the first phase.

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) released the following statement regarding the House-passed continuing resolution (CR):

“In the House and Senate, I’ve repeatedly voted to defund, repeal, and delay President Obama’s health care law. I believe there is growing evidence that it will not work.

“This week, I’ll continue that fight by supporting the House-passed continuing resolution, which defunds ObamaCare and keeps the government open without increasing federal spending. I will vote to begin debate on this bill and move to final passage on the House-passed CR. I will also vote against any attempts by the Majority Leader to restore funding for ObamaCare.

“My colleagues on the other side of the aisle face an important decision this week: They can stand with the overwhelming majority of Americans who have rejected ObamaCare, or they can stand with Leader Reid and President Obama. I hope Senate Democrats will work with Republicans to defund this flawed law and replace it with common-sense health care solutions.”

While serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, Blunt voted against the passage of ObamaCare and led Republican efforts to develop common-sense alternatives.

Since being elected to the U.S. Senate, Blunt has taken at least 29 votes to defund, repeal, and delay the president’s health care overhaul – including votes on the floor and in the Appropriations Committee.

The MOKAN Take Charge Challenge is all about helping businesses and organizations learn more about energy efficiency and providing tools, resources and guidance to help them make lasting changes that have a financial, social and environmental impact. Participants earn points for completing tasks and the results of individual participants and the community team they are one are tracked and displayed in real time. There are prizes for the participants and community that makes the biggest impact, thus scoring the most points!

The challenge is underway and ends on January 31, 2014. Points can be earned for task completed during this time. Prizes will be awarded in February 2014.

Participation in the challenge is FREE for all participants! Many of the tasks that can be completed require minimal time or resources to complete. Other tasks could

require a larger commitment of time or resources, but often have a larger financial, social or environmental impact and are worth more points to complete!

(AP) — An official at Missouri’s housing development agency has been nominated as regional director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Missouri Congressman William Lacy Clay says that President Barack Obama has nominated Kansas City resident Jennifer Tidwell as a regional director for HUD.

Tidwell is the deputy director of the Missouri Housing Development Commission, which provides incentives for the construction of low-income and affordable housing.

Obama picked her to direct a Kansas City-based HUD office that oversees operations in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.

(AP) — Missouri businesses could face significantly higher costs for workers’ compensation insurance next year.

An organization that projects workers’ compensation insurance costs is forecasting that Missouri insurers will see an 11.6 percent increase in their claim costs in 2014. The projections by the National Council on Compensation Insurance often are used by insurance companies to set the premiums charged to businesses.

The increase is driven partly by a new Missouri law that seeks to shore up a financially troubled fund for disabled workers who suffer additional on-the-job injuries. The law shifts some types of claims out of the Second Injury Fund and into traditional workers’ compensation insurance.

Businesses also could face a higher surcharge — on top of their regular workers’ compensation premiums — to help replenish the Second Injury Fund.

(AP) — The first three penguins for the Kansas City Zoo’s new exhibit are scheduled to arrive after being picked up at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kan.

The three penguins arriving Thursday will be among a few dozen in the Kansas City Zoo’s new $15 million Helzberg Penguin Plaza. The rest of the birds will come from animal parks across the country.

The first three birds are from the Humboldt species, which nest on the coasts of Peru and Chile. The other species will be cold-climate birds. They are expected to start arriving in early October.

The zoo tentatively plans to open the penguin exhibit after the Friend of the Zoo board’s annual meeting Oct. 23.

(AP) — Marion Helzberg Bloch, a philanthropist and wife of H&R Block co-founder Henry W. Bloch, has died at the age of 83.The family said she died Tuesday at her home in Mission Hills. Her son, Thomas Bloch, said his mother’s health had slowly declined since she was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 58.

Marion Bloch helped her husband while he and his brother, Richard, built H&R Block into the nation’s largest commercial tax-preparation firm.

The Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation gave generously to many area institutions, including the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and St. Luke’s Hospital.

The funeral services will be private but a public memorial service will be held at the Atkins Auditorium at the Nelson gallery at 2 p.m. Monday.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill has written to the Secretary of the Army, John McHugh, to request information and documents regarding the Army Recruiting Assistance Programs (“A-RAP”), after reports that nearly $100 million had been fraudulently distributed.

While the Army discontinued the program last year, an inquiry into the alleged fraud was ordered on the same date the program was terminated. McCaskill’s letter requests the report itself or a progress update, if the report remains uncompleted.

“After allegations of fraud, the Army ended this program and requested an inquiry on the same day, 18 months ago-I think it’s time to see what they uncovered,” said McCaskill, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight. “$92 million is a lot of money, especially in this budgetary environment, and if fraud took place we need to do what it takes to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.”

“The Subcommittee learned that this inquiry will cover topics including the conduct of military personnel directly involved in the alleged fraud, Docupak’s oversight of A-RAP, and the Army’s oversight of the contract and program,” McCaskill’s letter reads.

McCaskill recently contacted the U.S. National Guard’s top commander, General Frank Grass, to request information on two contracts totaling $217 million based on concerns that management and oversight of those contracts may have been inadequate.